How The Grinch Saved Halloween

Whew, that was a close one! I realized Sunday night, around ten o'clock, that Halloween was Monday! Monday! Noooooooooo!

Pumpkins? Nope.
Costumes? Nuh-uh.
Candy? Shyah, right.
Decorations? OK, if you're still asking at this point, you're not getting it. ;-)

We might as well have been living in, oh, August, for all the Halloween preparations we'd done.

Sadly, my Inspector Gadget-like children, who must have some sort of hearing magnification devices implanted in their little heads, heard me moan, "Oh great. Tomorrow's Halloween." (Nobody was supposed to hear that!) Well, now I was busted. Trapped. Bouncing, joy, and overall enthusiasm ensued in the back seat of the pickup. Yeah, I'll never get away with ignoring it now.

So yesterday we got up, talked about Halloween, stalled, baked pumpkin, stalled some more... Googled "Holiday Coloring Pages" and printed off a few for the boys to decorate and put up on the door (stall, stall, stall). LB called and we exchanged pumpkin baking ideas. She wasn't any better prepared than I was, but she was enthusiastic about it. Well, cool! She helped me get my energy channeled, and we were OFF!

To the store for costumes. Just have fun with it. Pick whatever you want. If we have to put something together, we will. It'll be okay. I'll make you some play clothes in the spring, ok? OK!

The defaulter's list got pretty high:
Green dragon-dinosaur looking thing. James said, "I don't think I'm quite that kind of an adventurous kid."

Reddish-purple dragon with awesome huge gold wings and twisty purple horns (like the one in Sleeping Beauty!) John was awed. Then suddenly made a face. "Mom, that's a girl. No." What?!? It's a dragon! Dragons don't have gender! "Maahhhm!" he says, cocking his eyebrows at me and pointing at it, "It has eyelashes." Ohhhhh... good point.

Smidge was easy. Fuzzy, orange tiger suit. Soft. Snuggly. Did I mention fuzzy? He was in heaven.

We left the store with Batman, Superman and Tiger Cub in tow. And buckets. And candy. Zorak was nearly subjected to a pirate costume, but that would've been more for my own entertainment than the actual Halloween spirit. The boys pointed out that he didn't have the boots to go with it, though, and vetoed the suggestion.

Then it was off to find pumpkins. No small feat, but we did it. The lady at the Church Of Outrageously Priced Pumpkins thought the boys were adorable, wanted to get rid of her Outrageously Priced Pumpkins, and the boys clinched the deal when they picked out a pumpkin for Emily. Awwww. We walked out of there with armloads of pumpkins for a fairly decent price. Yay!

Since this is an apartment complex in a nice part of town, we guessed that it would be inundated with ghouls and Licensed Disney Characters in search of a sugar high. We picked up many, many bags of candy. James made a reversible sign: "Welcome! We have candy!" on one side, "Sorry, we're out trick or treating." on the other. We stayed home to carve pumpkins and play for a bit. No visitors. Hmmm. Weird. Well, let's head out and recon a bit. Not a soul in the neighborhood. It was as if the Child Catcher from Vulgaria had scoured our complex! So we drove over to a few areas and the boys had a lovely time.

They were so good to Smidge, helping him up the steps, reminding him to say "Thank you", proudly showing him off to the onlookers and announcing that he is their baby brother! They laughed, giggled, held our hands and hugged us between houses. Zorak and I roamed around behind them, grinning like fools. They pounced up to doorsteps, talking about all the decorations, complimenting the homeowners on their webs and lights. This is parenthood at one of it's most relaxed, enjoyable moments. Your children have the opportunity to be ill-mannered little heathens, and they don't take it. Ooohhhh, that's nice.

We came home, watched Ice Age, and then, to bed. Happy Halloween, indeed.

Although next year, I hope to be a wee bit more prepared. I mean, this was short-notice planning, even for me. And now, on to ignore November until the 23rd or so! Weee!

Kiss those babies!
~Dy