Through a Glass, Darkly

For an optimal grocery shopping experience, go on Halloween night. I went to Wal-Mart, and there were about four people there. No crowded aisles, no waiting in line. Mike stayed home and passed out candy. Genius, I say.

(I drove by a lot of trick-or-treaters to and from Wal-Mart. My informal research seemed to show that butterflies were the “it” costume for girls this year.)

I like Halloween - I like encouraging children to be imaginative and the magic of that one night when everyone’s door is open and you see all your neighbors out and people are dressed up . . . it’s just fun. My dad liked Halloween a lot. He always told us about getting pillowcases full of candy when he was little, and he’d get excited when he’d take us to the neighbors’ houses. It was bittersweet to drive through my neighborhood tonight and see all the families walking around. It made me miss him. We had good Halloween weather, at least. No one had to put his coat on OVER his Superman costume.

My favorite Halloween memory is from when I was 12 or 13. I was invited to a Halloween party, and my dad was going to drive me there. Joseph had something going on, and Mom was going to be with him, so no one was really going to be home. Plus, we didn’t normally get any/very many trick-or-treaters. Which meant that nobody had bought any candy, since none of us were going to be home anyway. But my party didn’t start until . . . maybe 7:00, and it was dark by then. And around 6:30, Dad and I had a few trick-or-treaters come to the door. We had nothing to give them. I had to give them the candy I’d gotten in school that day (my dad promised to replace it). And then, for the next half-hour, my dad and I sat in complete darkness so that no one else would come to the door. I remember that we discussed whether we should watch the TV in the living room, in case it gave off too much light, but I can’t remember whether we actually watched the other TV, the one in Mom and Dad’s bedroom. Regardless, we laughed so much - every time a car drove by, we would pray that it would keep on going. And I’m pretty sure that I got to the party early, because we didn’t want to sit in the dark anymore. And that, boys and girls, was the last time we forgot to buy Halloween candy. Good times.

While I was at Wal-Mart, I noticed Christmas decorations out. I’ve decided that next year, I will not rest until I find Christmas candy to give out at Halloween. Surely this is possible - Christmas candy will, after all, be on the shelves tomorrow. I am sure there are places that already have it out, right? How awesome would it be to give that out on Halloween? “Trick-or-treat!” “Here, have some candy, whatever the crap today is. Now go away.”

And, can I just say, I love the Internet. Tonight I was thinking about a song we learned in Music class in elementary school, and all I was able to remember was something about all these yucky ingredients like dead leaves and seaweed and then “stir them in my witch’s brew, I’ve got magic . . .” Well, not only did I easily find the lyrics, but I also got to listen to the actual song itself. What a great night.

Oh! One more thing! I made the pumpkin cookies again, this time with fresh pumpkin. The canned pumpkin was way better! These were fine, they were still good, but . . . stick with the cans! (I was very disappointed.)