I say it every year, but it bears repeating: My street is to Halloween what Bourbon Street is to Mardi Gras. This year I bought 13 bags of Reese’s Cups, Starburst, Skittles and Snickers, and it lasted just a bit longer than 90 minutes. We had the full gamut — adorable toddlers in ladybug costumes to sullen teenagers in no costume at all — plus a few never-before-seen visitors. My favorite: A mother so morbidly obese she could only navigate in an electric scooter. Way to teach good health habits, mom!
But it is my street, and I’m glad of it. Halloween is fun. To repeat: Halloween is fun! Pass it on. Alan took Kate to Defiance (Ohio, his hometown) last night for that city’s Halloween parade. It lasted an hour and 40 minutes, which is no small parade. Bands, floats, the works — she came home exhausted, with her trick-or-treat bucket nearly full. Pawing through it, I found two are-you-saved religious tracts, presented comic-book style for children. I confess: It made me say goddamnit. Alan said they were passed out by parade-goers dressed as the Grim Reaper. If evangelicals disapprove of Halloween, OK, fine. Sit at home watching Pat Robertson while disappointed children ring your doorbell; that’s your choice. But don’t come out to rain on my kid’s parade. To her, and to virtually everybody else in the world except you folks, it’s an excuse to a) get dressed up; b) get a lot of candy; and c) stay out after dark. That’s it. OK? That’s all it is. Jesus wouldn’t approve of people who ruin children’s harmless fun — really, He told me so. “Tell those people to stop being such pills.” His exact words.
He doesn’t just talk to Mel Gibson and Jerry Falwell, you know.
OK, then. We allowed Kate to have a “Halloween party” before trick-or-treat, with restrictions, i.e, six guests tops, and a 60-minute duration. It was a blast. Doughnuts, cider, games, outta here. The highlight was the apple-bobbing, plus the blast out the door to start the trick-or-treating, when everyone ran across the street to the neighbors’, who had their dog out in the yard in her costume: Prison stripes, plus an old-style prison pillbox emblazoned BAD DOG. That’s my neighborhood. We know how to have fun.
(By the way, thanks, Connie, for the tip on the glue-on hem strip. Saved my bacon. NN.C readers are the best. You can see how the dress turned out, more or less. Kate likes the batwings best. So do I.)
Bloggage:
My alma mater, the Columbus Dispatch, published their latest presidential poll. They charge for content, so I’ll just give you the gist here:
President Bush and Sen. John Kerry are tied at just less than 50 percent in a new Dispatch Poll. How close is this matchup? Kerry leads by a mere eight votes out of 2,880 ballots returned in the mail survey � the tightest margin ever in a final Dispatch Poll.
Lest you be fooled by the non-New York Times-ishness of this newspaper, don’t be. The poll has a good track record, and was one of the few to predict the enormity of the Reagan landslide in 1980.
As my colleague Bob said the other day, “Who’s ready for a 30-day election night?”
I hope you are — you’re getting one.
Happy Halloween!
Connie said on October 31, 2004 at 10:07 pm
You are most welcome, glad I could help.
And Deb, I do still have all the doll clothes my grandmother made me for both Barbies and family and a baby doll. Both knitted and sewn. But the silk Korean wedding dresses made for Barbie by her mission group dissolved/disappeared into dust before my eyes years ago.
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Pam said on November 1, 2004 at 8:03 am
Can you believe it?? The Columbus Dispatch endorsed John Kerry! And I got the Westerville SNP on my porch a few days ago with a huge Kerry endorsement right on the front page! It was very strongly worded against W. No political double speak at all. Amazing! If the paper wasn’t free, there would be cancellations from all over Westerville!! The Halloween pics are great! We darkened the house and hid out in the kitchen this year (I forgot to buy candy).
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joodyb said on November 1, 2004 at 10:44 am
Adorable. Especially the hat. Ask me about Elvis sometime.
{{{All weekend Mark carps that I’m working on Halloween. I make the Walgreen’s run to buy candy so he can perform his ritual: He removes the stormdoor screen so he can just hand the candy through the door without opening it. Then at the end, he puts the glass in. Voila! Warmth and CST, all in one night!)))
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Mary said on November 1, 2004 at 11:25 am
The witch costume looks great, and the photo of the kids in costume is really adorable.
Son Pete won most original for his Beatle costume at the local recreation center. His older brother loaned him his bass guitar and told him to play it lefthanded. Sticklers for authenticity must have been the ones who voted him the prize.
..and someone stole our Jack-o-lantern! Sheesh. I’m accustomed to people smashing them, but not stealing them. What is the world coming to when things are as bad here in LA as they are there in Fort Wayne.
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KCK said on November 1, 2004 at 12:49 pm
Actually Pam the Col Dispatch endorsed Bush, see page B8 of the Sunday 31 Oct edition or link below:
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6328072/
There is still plenty of time for them to change their mind – check paper again tomorrow morning
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jcburns said on November 1, 2004 at 5:39 pm
Did Alan make that pumpkin with a fancy dremel tool thing?
Perhaps A Dremel Custom Pumpkin Carving Kit?
So detailed…so fancy…
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Nance said on November 1, 2004 at 6:11 pm
No, but he used a pattern. (The internet is a wonderful thing.)
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Richard N. / Toronto said on November 6, 2004 at 2:44 pm
A random comment about the “mother so morbidly obese she could only navigate in an electric scooter.” In a rather ironic way one of my regular running routes includes a lot of folks who use those scooters, and they do often seem of a size. But …
If I lay off the working out I find myself getting bigger. And I’ve often wondered … if I had terrible arthritis, or a frozen hip, or some other immobilizing injury, and I found it hard to walk to the convenience store or the pub, well, wouldn’t I start getting big(ger)? And then I’m in a kind of self-stoking cycle, where it gets harder & harder to get around, so I use the scooter, so I lay on the poundage, so it gets harder to get around …
Just a thought.
All the best, Richard in Toronto
(listening to my granddaughter play a Bratz game on her computer; sigh)
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