Well, Halloween 2019 deserves documentation. I think it marked a transition in celebrating for us, as this was the first year that Catherine had opinions about her costume. And initially, I thought it would be the first year that we did some real trick or treating but that will have to wait for another year. Every year before this one, Catherine has either been too tired or too shy but this year she had been eagerly awaiting the opportunity to dress up and ask for candy.
The plans for Halloween 2019 started almost a year ago when Catherine decided that we would all dress up as the Super Wings (a kids show on Netflix) and assigned everyone in the family their character. We came up with a plan for how to construct the costumes and waited to do construction until Halloween morning because Andy was going to be post-call and home for most of the day.
But I’m going to back up and start with Halloween Eve aka costumes round 1: things we pulled out of our toy room. The youth group went to a local nursing home to go “Reverse Trick or Treating” and I took the kids with me. A few days ago, when we were reviewing the schedule for the week (something Catherine likes to do regularly), I told her about going to the nursing home to give candy to people who wouldn’t be able to leave their house on Halloween. She liked the idea. Then a little while later, I found her at the kitchen table coloring pictures. She said, “Mom, I’m coloring pictures to give out to the people with our candy!”
I was really proud of her. She was very excited about the trip and all of the residents seemed pleased to get a picture from her.
She and Theodore went as Marshall and Skye from the Paw Patrol. The theme of Halloween for Theodore this year has been “I hate wearing costumes!” He did wear the firefighter jacket long enough for me to get a picture of him in it but he was most excited to find a dog to pet at the nursing home.
Fast forward to this morning, Andy comes home from work and we get started on our costumes. Andy spent most of the day stressed that they won’t be finished in time (even though from my perspective, everything went smoothly.) This was also the first year that Catherine played a big role in the creation of her costume. She painted the whole thing with very little parental assistance, working diligently on it all afternoon.
At long last, the costumes were done and we were ready to head downtown to the Halloween party on Main Street. Rain was in the forecast all day, but up to this point, it was just a drizzle off and on. As soon as we begin to load the car, the rain gets heavier. When we finally get down to Main Street to park, it is a downpour. Andy and I got out of the car to unload the wagon and were soaked to the skin in seconds. I could feel streams of water running down my back. We decided to hop back in the car to see if we could wait it out. After checking the weather radar and seeing no end in sight, we headed home hoping to at least stop by a few houses on our street.
Back home, we attempt to costume up and take some pictures for posterity. After some costume malfunctions and Theodore screaming angrily anytime you brought his costume anywhere near him, we loaded the kids in the wagon to make a quick run down the street. We opened the garage door and stared out at the rain. Of course, we decided to make our costumes out of cardboard this year…
Andy turns to the kids and says, “Do you want to go trick or treating or do you want to stay here and watch The Great Pumpkin?” (our post-trick or treating plan). Catherine immediately says, “I don’t want to go in the rain, can we just stay here and watch the movie?” I couldn’t blame her, it was windy, rainy, and going outside looked like no fun. While we got everyone set up for pizza and a movie, Andy asked with a touch of sarcasm, “Was this the best Halloween ever?” to get a very genuine response of “Yeah Yeah Yeah!!!”, said by both Catherine and Theodore while jumping up and down with excitement.
We didn’t totally miss out on trick or treating though, the night had just a little bit of Halloween magic left. After Theodore was in bed and Catherine was already in her pajamas, we decided to look outside to check the weather one more time. Finally, the rain was back to just a drizzle. So with just 2 minutes left until trick or treating was over, I asked Catherine if she wanted to run over to the neighbor’s house to trick or treat quickly before bed. With her enthusiastic yes, I ran to the basement, grabbed her costume, picked her up, carried her to the neighbor’s house, both of us in our pajamas! We did get a quick trick or treating in after all.
I always say our best days as a family are any day that we’re all together and this day was no different. We had a great time making our costumes, planning and working together even if the trick or treating didn’t go as expected. The kids were delighted at the result of the day which is all Andy and I need to be satisfied too.
Halloween 2019, the one we’ll remember. ❤
Adventures of Our Own 