Halloween in Jonesville

We had more than our usual share of frustration going into this holiday. Benjamin threw up last night. Tim's been sick for a week, and, judging from how deeply exhausted I've been, I have too. The car battery completely died and had to be replaced this afternoon. There was a moderate tragedy in the extended family that could get better or could get worse--we don't know yet--that we found out about early this afternoon. Oh, and I voted. Tim checked out the lines and said they were long, but not impossible, and sent me instead, figuring one of us had to vote on the 4th, and he would probably handle the longer lines that day better than I (and he's right).

So this is house the day went, divided between me and Tim but in this order: clean up Benji. Get car fixed instead of going to the birthday party I promised the kids we'd go to. Absorb bad news. Go vote. Try to get a confirmation of my pregnancy for Medicaid, but the office was closed for 'nevada day'. Come home and eat. Find costumes and dress everyone, complete with the usual changing of minds, lacking of pieces, and frustrations. Go buy candy to hand out. Go to the ward trunk-or-treating party, which included dinner and was really fun.

This was the first trick-or-treating adventure I remember where Tim got to participate, too. So I got to sit down and watch and hand out treats while Tim took our scientist, cheetah (that jaguar costume has been pretty flexible for us over the years!), mouse, and suave 'james bond' kitty around to get treats. Benjamin loved the 'punckin-mins' (I think this is a derivation of pumpkins and pikmin) and the 'calloween' (candy+halloween, but referring specifically to the candy). All together everyone seemed to have fun. I walked in to dinner area of the parking lot party and immediately noticed the brand of speakers the sound guy had set up, and how many and which directions they were aiming, and what kind of laptop and size of mixer he had set up, and which software he was running to choose the songs, and that (as usual) the sound was far far too loud for the audience. I guess I've been married to a musician for a while! Even with loud music, I far far prefer trunk-or-treating to trick-or-treating. You get the same amount of candy much faster, with less walking and everyone there are 'safe'--or at least you've met them in church before. I was surprised to find our neighborhood, which is totally ideally set up for trick-or-treating, with lots of houses in a circle, was deserted, with most of the lights off. Nobody in the neighborhood really has kids anymore, so nobody was really doing the holiday, although a few houses were decorated.

So we survived another holiday with no tears. That means its a glowing success, right?

Oh, and halloween in vegas? Pleasant. It was the first year ever I didn't have to find costumes that fit over coats, hats, and gloves, or worry about snow.

Holidays are hard for me because I dont' really care about them, but I know the kids do. The funny thing is, they won't remember any one particular holiday so much. It's more of the conglomerate of Halloweens they'll remember. That's why, despite the fact that I'm not big on an overload of traditions, I try to follow a few simple ones for the major holidays--or at the very least do it in the same simplified way every year--because the sameness every year is what will make it so the kids will remember that we 'did Halloween' (or christmas, or easter, or thanksgiving).

Besides--it's less work for me.