What a Life!

I got Ben’s costume out Tuesday to see if it fit him. [I know, I’m really late… We bought it last year at Neat Repeatz and it was way too long so he wore something else. This year it fit.]

Then yesterday I started talking about Halloween and what all goes on. I told him he would dress up as a fireman and then he and Daddy would go down the street and knock on doors. I asked him what he would say when they came to the door and opened it.

Halloween Christmas! he told me. He could not have said it with more enthusiasm.

No, Ben. You say “Trick or treat.”

A bit later…

Me: What do you say when they come to the door and open it?

Ben: Halloween Christmas!

[I think he got the belligerent gene from my dad, where you insist on doing stupid things that completely mortify the rest of us.]

Steve came home, we ate supper and at 6:00 the two of them headed out to go trick-or-treating.

Steve said he was just going to take him to a few houses on our street. Like a half a dozen houses or so, is what I had in mind. But by 6:45, I had seen nothing of them, and I was living my own Halloween horror story. [Steve had been asking me if I had ever seen any Halloween horror movies, and my answer was no except for maybe when I was channel surfing and watched one long enough to figure out what it was and move on. I hate horror stories.]

When they finally got home (shortly after 7:00), Steve said hardly anyone on our street was at home so they wandered over a couple streets where they hit the Halloween jackpot – everyone was at home (some of them even sitting outside waiting on their porches for kids to come by and ask for candy), and they were all handing out really good treats (like whole candy bars, not just mini ones). Then they came back to our street and went to the five houses where people were actually home handing out candy.

After they got home, we let Ben pick one piece of candy and eat it. He picked the biggest candy bar in the lot (of course) and shared it with Daddy. Then after he went to bed, Steve went though all the loot to make sure it was okay. We have a gallon-size ziplock bag full of candy, enough to last through November and beyond at a rate of one piece a day (though we promised a second piece if he goes stinky in the potty). Oh my!

Here’s one more picture of our sweet Ben in his costume, just for good luck. It’s a great shot of him, but the cat could have been a little quicker and gotten out of the picture before I snapped it.