Today, Halloween, was both typical and atypical for us. Atypical in that we got five inches of snow today, and a chill wind whipped through the neighborhood. It would be very easy to attribute to the lousy weather the fact that we didn't get a single trick or treater today. Except that that is the case virtually every year. While I don't keep careful score, I think it's been at least four years since any trick or treaters rang our doorbell.
It's not that we don't have anything to offer - we have a ton of candy, and if I do say so myself, it's pretty awesome (including my very favorite, Snickers bars). And on this very block there are a few kids. It's almost certainly our location; we live on the street that funnels traffic from our subdivision onto a major arterial road, just a few houses from the intersection, so walking past our house isn't a path to lots of houses and candy for trick or treaters. Oh well, more candy for us to eat.
And happy All Saints Day, everyone - the feast for which the Hallowed E'en is named.
We are near the end of a cul de sac, and if our neighbors' porch lights aren't on nobody bothers to come this far. I think it is three years since we had trick-or-treaters. And we can't blame snow. (The neighborhood has deteriorated since September when Gen. Bonespur decided to move his permanent address from New York, where state tax forms can be subpoenaed, to Florida where the tourists pay the taxes. His new permanent abode is 6.6 miles from my front door.) However, I have a theory. I think the kids are home with the baby sitters because the parents are all costumed up and at a party. Halloween is the new New Year's Eve, an adultfest.
ReplyDeleteFive inches of snow, bummer! We got a skiff of snow a couple of days ago, and it got pretty cold, 15 degrees at night. Finished off any fall flowers, and the leaves are coming down. But supposed to be nice for a few days now.
ReplyDeleteWe didn't have any trick or treaters either. I wasn't even going to buy candy, because choir was singing at the anticipated Mass, and I wouldn't be there. But DH said, "Oh, let's get some anyway,I'll answer the door." So we've got a whole bowl of fun sized candy bars. He says "That's okay." Maybe for him, not for me, I gain pounds just looking at it.
I think the reason we didn't have trick or treaters was that it already happened. The downtown businesses had "trunk or treat" a couple of nights ago. HyVee had treats for the kids in costumes Wednesday afternoon, and the place was full of them. There were treats for the CCD kids at the parish Wednesday evening too.
My son sent me pictures of his girls, they did go trick or treating last night. I notice they were wearing long sleeved shirts under their fairy and princess outfits. Except the one who was Rey from Star Wars had bare arms. She's tough.
The home-schooled kids came in saints' costume this morning. Most arrived with their mothers, who are schooling them in values you can't get in public schools, during the homily because it took them so long to get dressed in the parking lot. First things first: Costume, then Jesus. They come every Monday, too, and usually thunder in some time between the Kyrie and the Gospel. But they have all learned that, no matter how late they are, they must stop at the holy water font, genuflect, make three signs of the cross and kiss their thumbs. Otherwise? Bad luck, I guess.
ReplyDeleteWe have a few homeschoolers here too. Mostly they are large families. Some of the moms have said that it's just easier to do that than to be constantly on the road hauling everyone to the different schools they would have to go to, not to mention activities. I can believe that. But I wouldn't have had the patience, I don't think my kids would have, either. Tried to give one of them piano lessons, it lasted a week. I know for sure that my mom and I had a better relationship than we would have if she had tried to homeschool me.
DeleteSaint costumes, yeah, we used to do that. One of my sisters was Kateri Tekakwitha. And my brother's patron was Martin of Tours, we made him a shield of cardboard covered with aluminum foil. And a vampire cloak can double as a Roman soldier's.
Katherine: Except the one who was Rey from Star Wars had bare arms. She's tough.
ReplyDeleteGood for her!
The doorbell rang once - the 5 year old twins from up the street. Our cul-de-sac is old people - most of us here for 30-48 years and a lot of them turn out their lights and people don't bother walking down here (it's a hill that has to be climbed up again).
The neighborhood community party in the park was canceled due to the heavy rainstorm forecast.
Our EC parish had a children's party and parade of Saints - but on Sunday, not on Halloween.
I really hate moving holidays from their appointed dates. Just another surrender to people's corporate obligations.
DeleteSome churches now have tailgate Halloween. People drive to the parking lot; children go from car tailgate to car tailgate.
ReplyDeleteThe other day was Halloween at the local Giant Eagle market. Employees, parents and children were dressed up. Of course the treats were not free, but at least you could choose your own. All the fun of seeing everyone else without the problems of navigating weather and neighborhoods.
I'm sort of in the in-between stage of life, in which my kids are all too old to go trick or treating, and we don't have any grandkids. So I've been pretty much unaware of these trick-or-treating developments reported in the comments: going to churches, doing it on different days, tailgating, etc. Seems that trick or treating is evolving.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid, everyone did it at night, on Halloween. That was part of the fun and atmosphere: being out at night-time.
In the place where we've reared our kids, it's done (or was done when our kids were young enough, not really that long ago) on Halloween, but during the daytime. When, as in most years, Halloween falls on a school day, the kids do their trick or treating after school; the understanding is that they're done by dinnertime.
By taking my kids around for trick or treating, I rang doorbells and chatted a bit with neighbors whom otherwise I would never have met. We're not an overly neighborly neighborhood. Nobody has ever organized a block party around here. Most neighbors, I don't ever see unless they're working in the yard the same time I am, or if we happen to be in our driveways at the same time. And then it's usually just a friendly, or at least a civil, wave. I get out and about to work out (cycling or walking), and I see a few fellow exercisers at that time. But for the most part, people around here keep to themselves. When the kids were younger, I got to know some of the other parents of kids' classmates, but most of my kids' friends lived in other neighborhoods. Even through church, I technically live in another parish's boundaries, so I don't see many of my neighbors at my parish.
When I was a kid, we didn't want adults anywhere but behind their doors with something in their hands. When my children trick-or-treated, one of was in sight while they were young. But even the scare stories of razor blades in an apple (where would you get one unsurrounded by plastic these days?), abductions, child molesters, etc., etc. were starting to spread. Obviously, Halloween had to be organized and all the fun taken out of it. "If only one tragedy can be prevented..." What better than doing it in the sunshine, at a commercial site, where the ghosts and goblins and anything that may go bump in the night are controlled and no one can scare himself?
DeleteI played baseball all summer before Little League, and we had more fun at the game than the Little Leaguers ever do; we never had adult egos involved. (Cried the geezer.)
Between Halloween being appropriated by adults for their neverending childhood (but with alcohol) and the adults organizing it to death for their kids, they've killed the fun. In addition, the cops are getting more and more involved in these Halloween trick-or-treat replacements. Not cool, in my opinion.
DeleteMay I ask for prayers for the souls of all children lost to miscarriage and stillbirth tomorrow on All Souls Day? I like this one, but pray what you know:
ReplyDeleteOur God in heaven, we know you are the Maker. We know you give and take away. We are but dust in your hands, and yet we know how precious each of your children is to you, including the ones gone too soon. Though we may not see the glory of a short life on this earth, we know you alone can redeem that. Remind us in dark moments that you are redeeming this loss in eternity. Amen
I will offer my prayers for them, and especially for those wbo mourn their loss.
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