Simple Pleasures

Halloween Night by Salvatore Vuono courtesy freedigitalphotos.net

Once again, it was a successful Halloween night for everyone on Marshall Street!  The little ones were out with parents starting at 5:30 p.m. and we were ready.  Between my husband and myself, we bought maybe 6-8 bags of candy (he bought 2 bags of peppermint patties – his favorite – and I wondered what kid would like those??).  I set up our very nice (and easy) lighted resin jack-o-lantern and some candles and decorations on the porch.  I know, a resin pumpkin really isn’t the same as the genuine article, but it really does look lovely and is so much easier.  If I still had a young child at home, I’d probably adhere to tradition and carve one, but since I don’t…

Anyway, the weather was pleasant and the trick-or-treaters were out in droves on their candy-seeking mission.  After the first couple of customers came, my husband and I decided that it would be interesting to see exactly how many kids (little ones and not-so-little ones, too) we actually get.  He had estimated it would be about 100, but we really never thought about it seriously. So we kept a running tally as we ate pizza (him) and sampled chocolate treats (me – it was for the kids’ sake, making sure that our treats were safe 😉 ).  It got a little complicated at times.  Once in a while a mass of princesses, Spidermen, ninjas, witches, bumblebees, and Mario brothers would swarm in with their parents and it would be difficult to be on top of the count.  We’re talking maybe 15 kids with parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents at one time! Imagine all those people, on a candy-seeking mission, approaching you all at once, and you’re holding the bowl of treats.  We took turns and kept the flow going, afraid that a second mass group would arrive before the first group would be taken care of.  That could have been scary!

Throughout the evening, we had the opportunity to admire lots of wonderful costumes and creativity from moms who gave their trick-or-treaters special touches.  Lots of compliments made moms and dads feel good.  I also got to see some new friends from the elementary school where I work.  It was a joy for my husband, as well as for myself, to see their faces light up when they recognized me and told their parents that I work at their school.  When I came to school on Tuesday I felt like a celebrity.  The kids were still so excited that they saw me and that we had made a connection outside of school.  So sweet and so positive.  It was like, “I know you and you know me, and we are connected because we go to the same school and because we live in the same neighborhood.”  This is one of the reasons I am a fan of the trick-or-treat Halloween experience.  My husband and I see it as an opportunity to connect with neighbors and to have a positive interaction with our community children and young people.  Everyone is polite and sharing good cheer, and it makes them feel good and makes us feel good, too.

So the candy lasted for one-and-a-half hours.  By 7 p.m. most of the children had come past (although I think we still would have seen more had our candy not run out) and it was time to turn off the resin jack-o-lantern, blow out our candles, and take our empty bowls in.  When all was said and done, we came to a grand total of 285 trick-or-treaters!  A bit more than the 100 my husband estimated 🙂  A successful Marshall Street Halloween indeed!

P.S. One of the kids was thrilled that we had peppermint patties!  Who knew??