Halloween Fun

Halloween started around midday in the Hungry household, as we prepared to go to a playgroup party by making Pumpkin Bread. Trying something new, we made muffins and mini-muffins instead of two loaves, changing only the bake times (approximately 25, 18, and 75 minutes respectively). Then we proceeded to eat 10 of them! Two big, eight small, some with butter, some with apple butter, between the four of us. Yummy! Thankfully, the kids weren't in their costumes yet, because bread got everywhere.

Soon, though, they'd had enough of waiting and got dressed. Sis in her orange tunic with bear totem as Kenai and Bud in his blue tunic with wolf totem as Denahi. There had been some very last-minute talk at lunch about vampires--were they real? why did they bite (we didn't go into the blood lore)? could they really turn into bats? who was Bram Stoker anyway?--and Bud toyed with being a vampire . . . and then with being the Phantom of the Opera in his black cape while we listened to the musical . . . . for about ten minutes before reverting to his original idea. Don't ask me how we got on that subject, though I think we were talking about scary creatures.

Off to the party we went. And what fun they had! Mama Teacher had organized fun arts and crafts, including decorate-a-pumpkin and decorate -a-cupcake, while Miss J had great food (also, kudos to Mommy Goose for those Popcorn Balls and to Miss J for the homemade decorated sugar cookies!). But among the adults, only Mama Teacher and I got dressed up (I was in my butterfly outfit, looking, according to Bud, "like a beautiful butterfly princess"). The kiddos had a good time, especially playing outside on the giant swingset with 10'-plus rock wall that Sis scaled without blinking and Bud soon mastered with aplomb. My heart dropped every time--isn't third time a charm?--I think we must have one ER visit in our near future.

And then we were off to dinner at the "hot dog restaurant" to offset the large quantities of candy we knew they'd be inhaling. As we left, they noted that it was getting darker (actually just cloudier), "it must be Halloween!" Sad, really, because it's the only time they are ever really outside after dark!

We did two quick trick-or-treat warm-ups if you will, first at the babysitter's house, where the kids were oohed and aahed over but were too shy, upon seeing Babysitter outside of our house, to respond. Then we went to Mama Teacher's, even though we'd just seen them all. Then it was time to go home, light the pumpkins, pick up their plastic pumpkins, and head out. In a light drizzle that threatened all evening but didn't actually increase until the festivities were over.

The neighborhood group we meant to go with wasn't ready to assemble, so we hit the cul-de-sac. And the kids were off and running. We soon met up with our across-the-street neighbors and their friends and tagged along as it grew darker. And color me shocked: Sis was at the front of the pack, yelling out "trick-or-treat" at each stop, and then hightailing it to the next house without even looking back. Bud tried to keep up with her but was not as passionate about the whole thing. And Mama and I were Halloween amateurs, having never gone more than 5-10 houses with the kids before. Here are some quick tips for trick-or-treating to remember for next year:

• Carry an extra bag for each trick-or-treater, especially if they have those pumpkins, they get full and heavy quickly.
• Bring a flashlight to light the way, even if the kids are also carrying them or wearing glowsticks.
• Bring water to wash all that candy down.
• Organize your itinerary such that there is a friendly bathroom partway through the evening.

Before we even circled back to our house, Bud was tiring. And so, as Sis grew ever more serious in her pursuit of candy, we decided to split up. Mama took Bud home and Sis and I carried on. And did she! I think we walked an extra hour or more, and at least another mile! She grew very attached to one of the older girls in the group, wanting to hold her hand and go with her up to the door. Thankfully, the nine-year old dressed up as a witch was only too glad to have a little friend (and Sis was only too glad to have her, even going so far as to want to offer her a sniff of Shirt. Sis settled for just telling her about Shirt when I explained that not everyone would understand sniffing him). At one point, as some of the boys took off, Sis heading after them, yelling behind to her new friend, "I may be small but I'm fast!" And you should've seen her dance when she got full-sized bars of chocolate (mind you, there were 5 of these by night's end!). She even walked straight up to the spooky houses, even those with costumed adults passing out candy, not pausing once in fear. As she grew more tired and I tried to gauge her exhaustion, I asked if she wanted to just walk straight home without stopping. The reply, "No, Mom. I want to stop at the houses with the lights on for more candy." But she was tired as well as scared that the drizzle would dampen Shirt and we weren't anywhere she recognized, and it was dark, all of which were unsettling.

But when we rounded our corner she had new life, beating all the other kids to our door so that she could pass out candy to them. Bud, who had been enjoying passing out candy and sorting that which was his, along with spelling out the alphabet in Twizzlers, helped. And the other kids came and sat with us for awhile. Then Sis's new friend had to go and Sis spontaneously invited her to come back to play someday, which was so sweet (until she woke up this morning asking to see her new friend right away and cried when we couldn't. Poor dear).

Then it was time for Sis to sort her candy. Come to find out she had carefully chosen all chocolate at every chance, and had a humongous pile of M&Ms, Hershey bars and kisses, Kit Kats, Milky Way, and 3 Musketeers. Bud had already sorted his candy, which included quite an array of chewy candies like his favorite Skittles and various colored Tootsie Rolls, so he kept popping up hoping to find more visitors to whom he could distribute fistfuls of candy. As they sorted and ate, they set aside dozens of pieces of candy for the soldiers to whom our church will be shipping candy. They were very conscientious, even choosing their favorites to give away. I was so proud. And I was proud of Sis for her trick-or-treating perseverance. And of Bud for not minding being separated from me and Sis and for making his own fun--at almost 1 1/2 hours, we think it is the longest they have ever been apart excepting medical necessity/emergency.

While they sorted and ate--they can eat candy on demand all weekend, until bedtime Sunday, at which point it all goes away, mostly to soldiers, though some to a secret emergency Mommy stash (for the kids, not for me, mostly. Except those M&Ms)--we talked about the other meanings of Halloween. Of spirits, of the thinness of the veil, of people who have gone before us, of autumn and darkness and endings. We remembered Morgan, our friend in Chicago, Mama's grandmother and aunt, our little playgroup friend, the woman from church who died a week ago (no, Gommie, no one you know). But in a happy Halloween kind of way.

It was time for bed, though, and so we herded our little band of brother bears upstairs, gave an extra brush of the teeth, and read a few Halloween stories before finally going to sleep. Happy belated Halloween everyone!

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Easy Marshmallow Popcorn Balls

1/2 c. butter

1/2 c. brown sugar, firmly packed

1 lb. bag of mini marshmallows

6 quarts (24 c.) popcorn (unpopped kernels removed)

[Note: I halved the recipe and came out with about 18 smallish servings, which were the perfect size for preschoolers. I also added food coloring after the marshmallows were melted in for a festive look!]

1. In a heavy saucepan, melt the butter over low heat.

2. Stir in brown sugar. Stir until dissolved--about 2 minutes.

3. Add marshmallows. Melt into butter mixture, stirring constantly. Do not burn!

4. Poor marshmallow mixture over popcorn. [I spread the popcorn on a large, greased cookie sheet.] Mix well with wooden spoon or spatula.

5. With greased hands, form mixture into balls. It's hot stuff, so be careful!

6. Let cool on greased plate, cookie sheet, or waxed paper.

Mommy Goose