The Holiday Season: Part 1 - Halloween

Halloween has come and gone and we are officially plunged into the holiday season. This year Hannah designed her own costume as Pippi Longstocking and the boys were all pirates. I wore the renaissance dress I made months ago and Steven wore a peasant shirt I made for him.

The first of the holiday celebration was actually a week before the actual day, when we had our ward trunk-or-treat. We enjoyed the traditional chili and cinnamon rolls, then the kids had fun winning prizes playing games. Peter loved the cake walk especially. I won a chocolate bar as a reward for "best costume" in the adult division. After the games came the trunk-or-treating where the kids gathered a large bag full of candy. Sometime during the evening we lost a red bandana.

The next afternoon we went to a Halloween party at my sister Heather's house in Colorado Springs. We had fun playing Frisbee, socializing with family, and eating hamburgers. Hannah got to carve her first pumpkin. Steven enjoyed spreading rocks in certain areas of the landscaping.

The day before Halloween was the Fall Festival at the elementary school. The kids dressed in their costumes. We ate hotdogs and ice cream bars and the kids enjoyed spending tickets on fun games. Another bandana was left behind at the school.

Finally, almost anti-climatically, it was Halloween Night. We put on our costumes for the last time, placed a jack-o-lantern on the front porch with a lit candle inside, and Steven took the kids for a walk through the neighborhood to plead candy while I stayed home to pass out chocolate to those who came to our door. It was actually a fairly warm and pleasant evening. The kids came home and promptly dumped their bags out on the dining table and proceeded the Halloween Night ritual of sorting their sugary loot by type and size.

So now, two weeks later, the Halloween candy is finally gone. (From visible sight anyway. Unfortunately, my scale is showing were some of it went.) The roasted pumpkin seeds have been eaten. The moldy pumpkins have been thrown out. The red dye has washed from Hannah's hair. The swords, eyepatches, scarves and bandanas (those that were left) were retired for another year. The kids have finally come down from their sugar high and we have begun making plans for Thanksgiving and lists for Christmas. I love this time of year.