The Joy of Halloween

The pumpkins were carved, the Halloween lights were strung, candy was sitting in the bowl, and my kids were in their costumes. Everything was ready for a night of trick-or-treating. As the sun began to set and it started to get dark, my children were anxious to start going door-to-door. There was one problem though: we weren’t home yet. We were still making our Halloween visits.

Over the past 10 years, a Halloween tradition of taking the kids, in costume, to visit my wife’s parents, then my parents, and then their great-grandmother before they go trick-or-treating. As the kids have gotten older, this has become increasingly difficult, as our family schedule has become ever more hectic. It is particularly difficult when Halloween falls on a week night, as my wife and I rush home from work and scramble to get everything ready. Monday Halloweens are especially difficult because I get off of work later on Monday then I do the rest of the week.

This year, I felt work and immediately drove to my in-laws because my wife and kids were already there. After about 15 minutes, we dashed over to my parents. After another 15 minutes, we left to go visit my grandmother. Although we were pressed for time, we stayed to visit with her for another 20 minutes before we could contain the kids no longer. We made the mad dash for home in the creeping darkness, while the kids were getting increasingly more desperate to start trick-or-treating.

We made it home as the first trick-or-treater arrived at our door. As my oldest son doled out the candy, I quickly threw together some dinner for the kids. More and more trick-or-treaters arrived at our door while my kids desperately wolfed down their meager dinner. My wife and I scrambled to get candles in the Jack-O-Lanterns, start the Halloween music and dump more and more candy into the candy bowl as the number of trick-or-treaters increased. Finally, everything was ready and we headed out the door.

As we worked our way up and down the street, I constantly had to remind my oldest son to wait for his brother and sister. I also had to make sure my youngest son was aware of where all the steps were (he is visually impaired), and had to help my daughter to her feet every time she tripped on the hem of her costume (she was a princess). As we approached the last house of the night, my boys desperately pleaded that we go another block over so they could get more candy. It was a school night though, so I called it quits and herded the kids inside, where they proceeded to gorge themselves on candy.

When our candy supply ran out, we blew out the candles, shut the blinds, turned out all the lights, and got the kids into bed. As I settled in to watch the second-half of the Chiefs game, surrounded candy wrapper, I could only smile at the joy of Halloween.