Halloween Festivities, 2015

The past week has been a whirlwind of Halloween activities, and we didn't even make it to a Trunk-or-Treat! I don't recall my childhood having this degree of celebration. Overall it has been a lot of fun, but like last year, Jack ended up getting sick on Halloween day. I guess all of the festivities are a bit much for an almost 4-year-old.

Our Halloween celebrations started last Saturday with a neighbor's dress-up birthday party and outdoor movie. Jack had so much fun running around and playing with the neighborhood kids dressed as Iron Man.

This was followed by Friends and Family Day on Sunday at our church. This included a potluck and then an afternoon hayride, devotional and outdoor movie, complete with kettle corn, donuts, hot apple cider and coffee. We managed to stay until the end of the movie, even with Isaac!

On Wednesday night our church had their annual Halloween costume parade. This was Night #2 for Jack as Iron Man. He had so much fun pretending to be a super hero with one of his best friends who was Wonder Woman. 

 

Isaac was dressed as the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man and received quite a bit of attention.

Thursday was Jack's Halloween party at preschool. On this day he was a fireman. He insisted that the fireman was his "real" Halloween costume.

Friday night our small group had our annual Reverse Trick-or-Treat night at the Martin Boyd nursing home. We take our kids, dressed in the Halloween garb, to hand out candy to the residents and nurses. 

This is the highlight of Halloween for me and it brings great joy to the residents – many who do not get a chance to see children celebrate this holiday. 

Jack was Iron Man for the third time and Isaac was once again the Stay Puft baby. Most people guessed correctly what he was, but we also had people ask if he was the Michelin Man or the Pillsbury Dough Boy – all of which are good guesses!

Friday Jack mentioned that he felt like he had a fever. He was right, but it was mild so we gave him some Tylenol and hoped for the best. He had been so excited for the real Halloween, we decided to let him rest all day and make the effort to go trick-or-treating.

On Saturday Jack seemed to be feeling better, so we bundled both boys up and headed out to meet our friends. On the way to our friend's house, Jack brought up the fact that we hadn't cut up our pumpkin... one of these years we will get around to everything!

Trick-or-treating with our friends is becoming such a fun tradition. Jack rode in the double stroller with Wonder Woman and had a wonderful time, even though he was a bit under the weather.

Both boys were fire fighters (it was too cold for Isaac to be Stay Puft) and Jack collected a decent amount of candy (which will be subject to the Parent Candy Tax). At one house a teenager jumped out from behind a tree and I had a good scare. 

At another house there was a witch with a smoke machine. Jack marched right up to the door. At first we thought he was scared because he seemed frozen on the door stoop... then we realized that he was negotiating with the witch over which piece of candy he wanted!

That wraps up our Halloween week. Both boys fell asleep as soon as we put them in the car. Jack has developed a pretty bad cough, so we are taking it easy at home today in an effort to recover. Until next year...

Previous Halloween Experiences:  2012  |  2013  |   2014

Sharing the Halloween Spirit

Starting in the 7th grade, and continuing until I graduated from high school, I participated in a visitation program through my church's youth group. On Monday nights we would meet up at the church building as a group and then divide into smaller groups and go visit shut-ins and nursing home residents. Sometimes we would do chores for individuals, sometimes we would sing, but often we would just walk the halls and visit. We would shake hands, smile and talk with the people we met.

During this time of my life I was very much an introvert and sometimes these visits could be extremely uncomfortable, but overall I have very fond memories from these experiences.

Since high school I have only been back to nursing homes on a few occasions, typically around Christmas to sing carols, but it hasn't been something that has been a priority.

Recently our small group from church decided to take our kids to a local nursing home, dressed in their Halloween costumes, to hand out candy to the residents. This experience really took me back to my weekly visits in youth group.

As a parent, I can't really describe the pride I had in all 9 of our kids. They confidently marched up to people they didn't know and handed them candy. They really made a lot of people's day. I loved seeing the nurses excitedly walking the halls with us to make sure we didn't miss a single resident. 

With kids ranging in age from 2-11, all of the kids did amazingly well. The two-year-olds were especially funny in that they were determined to not miss giving a single person a piece of candy. I'm not sharing this to brag, I am just so very proud of these kids that are a part of our lives. I am thankful that Jack has a good example of older kids in his life. I am thankful that these kids were willing to spend part of a Saturday visiting other people's grandmas and grandpas, and that they didn't expect anything in return.