The very air is full of spirits

Our Halloween observance was simple but enthusiastic, cheerful, and full of spirit.
Pumpkins were Kroger-bought. I regret nothing. Kroger is a five minute walk from our backyard, so it was kind of like a neighborhood pumpkin patch!

Miles insisted that his look friendly, not scary:

Adele just wanted there to be triangles on hers:

We have twice subjected the kids to It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

I can't get enough of that soundtrack:

It's full of instruction on trick-or-treating, social realities, our human dependence on luck and chance (rocks in the pillowcase) and the importance of imagination to beagle life. A must-see.

Speaking of our human dependence on luck and chance, chance brought us....ready...a stomach bug this week! We're big winners. Adele succumbed on Tuesday, followed by Miles late Wednesday night. He had just stopped being visibly sick when evening came. Jon was starting to go downhill last night, so he opted out of trick-or-treating.

I had just enough energy from my half nights' sleeps (night-nursing each in turn) to push them in the stroller. Still, they perked up once they'd gotten some fresh air and we had a good old time!

The squirrel costume Miles requested turned out... okay. We thought he looked kinda like a Squirrel under Stalin with the grey uniform & hat.

Shout about it Little Comrade!

Adele took a while to warm up to the idea. This was really her first trick-or-treating, since we opted for the carnival option last year. So she had trouble letting go of any of the candy to put it in her bag for a while. At some point, I told her, in life, you have to let go of things if you want to get more. She absorbed it with her usual solemnity, and soon afterwards was observed to say "TrickATreet" very correctly and put her candy in her bag herself.

The kids insisted I be a princess, to go with Adele, the dragon. They didn't like my monster costume nearly as much as I did! It scared them a bit, I'm thinking. I'll have to save it for next year. It's fun; very hairy.

Adele got a good haul!

Well, they both did! I would like to thank Gillies for giving out oatmeal raisin bars so I could say yes to one item before dinner.

Alas, we had to miss the party at the library. It was a library swing dance! As if designed just for me! But with two sick-ish kids and a sick-ish husband and no sleep, it really wasn't an option. Home we went for a simple meal and some more Great Pumpkin.

I love Halloween and won't give a full defense of celebrating it, but here are some observations I've made about the importance of celebrating this particular half-pagan half-sacred holiday:

1. We need to face the fact that fear is a part of life.
2. We need to face the fact that death is a part of life.
3. We need to face the fact that the human experience contains supernatural, unexplained phenomena.
4. We need opportunities to look at supposedly scary things full in the face so that we recognize the limits of their power. 
5. We need to remember the dead, contemplate our own deaths, and commune with those we miss and love. 

I've got more but this is, after all, a family blog.Suffice to say that we are decidedly Team Halloween.

A blessed Halloween, All-Hallow's Eve, Dia De Los Muertos, Samhain and All Saints Day to all my readers!

Please note: this might be my last entry for a couple of weeks. Jon leaves on Tuesday for six days in England for a conference! Do keep us all in your prayers.