costume: pink bodysuit with flouncy chiffon dress sort of like a large
tutu, yellow 'sequin' shoes, a wand with streamers, and a pair of
diaphonous pink, translucent butterfly wings. She was determined not to
wear a jacket because it would spoil the lines and folks wouldn't be
able to tell she was a fairy. So I carried a jacket with me in case she
saw the light. She never did.
When I came home from work I brought with me an orange wooden pail, sort
of an octagon of planks, with a pumpkin face cut in it. Inside was a
little orange critter wearing a domino mask. Both were a present from my
friend and coworker Brent, bought for us by his wife Jen. Kelly was
ecstatic, and immediately switched from her plastic pumpkin bucket to
the wooden bucket. We started tromping around the neighborhood around
6pm.
Kelly always seemed to want to go to 'that house across the street', and
I was constantly pointing out how we'd get there soon enough. We worked
constantly on appropriate pronouncements:
- Ring the bell...
- When the door is opened, shout: "Trick or treat!"...
- Take only the candy offered (this was a tough one)...
- When leaving, be sure to say "Thank you!"...
- For extra credit, as you walk away, say "Happy Halloween!"
I know, you're thinking "how anal!" But if you watch the untutored
Kelly, you'll soon see that she can use the routine. Her own tendency is
to hold her bucket up to the person opening the door and wait silently
while they dish out the goods. I told her that didn't play well. In fact
a few people even prompted her themselves to say the T.o.T. words. Then
when she has the 'loot', she just bolts down the sidewalk. No good by my
lights. The best are of course when she spontaneously strikes up a
conversation: "I like your dog", "You have good candy", and "I'm
pretending to be the tooth fairy!" are all samples.
After about an hour of running from house to house, Kelly decided
she wanted to go home, so we headed back. She emptied out her bucket and
promptly ate a sample. Then she announced that she was ready to go out
again! I made her wait a few minutes to warm up, then we headed out to
canvas the parts of the neighborhood we hadn't gotten to yet. This time
it was later, and folks were giving out more candy per kid, as they
figured out how much they had left, so Kelly's bucket filled up pretty
fast. She made me put most of it into the pockets of my jacket, and went
on to fill it up again. "qbullet.smiley"
I timed the final loop to end at our house almost exactly at 7:40pm,
with the intention of getting her into a hot bath and into bed by her
8pm bedtime. After fifteen minutes of stories from me, and then fifteen
from her mom, we bid her goodnight. I checked on her around 8:45 and she
was already out like a light. No wonder, running around outside for an
hour and forty minutes wearing only a costume! Actually I slept
pretty well last night too!
So I'd say it was a success. Sacking the town with my daughter is one of
the three things about Halloween that make it my favorite holiday of
all. The other two are attending the "NOVA" Halloween Party, and the
preponderance of goofy old monster movies on the television in the
preceeding days. Someday Kelly will be too old to Trick or Treat, and I
won't always be a member of NOVA, but I think Halloween will always be
my favorite holiday.
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