Small-town Halloween

I'm going to spare you my rant about how Halloween has become so trendy and commercialized that it's lost all meaning, and I'm going to get right down to business: how fun the holiday has been in our charming little burg.

We kicked it off last Tuesday with the Halloween Parade. The rainy night didn't dampen spirits for this festive event. We walked a half-a-block towards the town square and ran into good friends who have an adorable four-year-old daughter. The parade includes marching bands and floats and costumed extravaganzas and a healthy dose of small-town pride. I loved it. I had no idea how much candy they would give out though - handfuls and handfuls of booty. Next year, I think I want to brew up some of my mom's Grog recipe (wine, apple cider, brandy, and spices) and invite people over afterwards.

I also think I want to decorate our porch next year. We've paid very little attention to the outside of the house, which makes me sad because people don't know there are new owners who are so proud and very civic-minded. Also, I'm worried about how the wood will survive the winter. But we have to stick with the plan, which has us focusing on the exterior next spring. For Halloween next year, I picture cornstalks attached to the columns at the top of the stairs and lots of jack-o-lanterns flickering. I don't think I will do cobwebs or scary things. Festive is more my style.

It's hard for me to imagine we could get more little visitors than we did last night, but I hope maybe we can.
We had bought three bags of candy at our normal grocery store, but I had to make a run to the closest store at 6:30 because we were already running low. I grabbed five more bags of whatever they had, and this is all we have left:

Pretty amazing! Kids came in huge clumps and elaborate costumes, I was so impressed. There were a few junior high-age boys who weren't dressed up, but that was nothing compared to what we were used to in the BIG City. Here the kidlets were charming and sweet and shy and well-behaved. Especially the Mexican families were teaching their kids to say thank-you. There were lots of vampires and other scary black costumes - is this a nationwide trend?

The winner by far: the Von Trapp family singers. Mom, Dad, and a gaggle of kids all dressed in hats and vests and woolen bottoms lined up and serenaded us with "My Favorite Things." It was awesome!

Over the weekend, we also did more socializing than we have in months. Friday night, we hung out with a bunch of faculty at the local brewpub. Saturday, we were invited to a Halloween party (I dressed as a Gypsy lady "We prefer to be called Romany or Rom." and D. dressed as himself.) And on Sunday, we went to our friends' house for dinner. We had a wonderful, relaxing visit, and everybody enjoyed the rustic apple tart I made. So my baking efforts might be improving. Though I think the locally grown apples didn't hurt.