It dawned on me as we journeyed around our neighborhood this evening that in his memory, this the first time Ethan has been trick-or-treating. He went as an infant the first time we took Emry. The following year he went and loved it, but he wasn’t even two. Last year, as it snowed about two inches, we were in the backyard in snow gear and not super heroes searching the neighborhood for candy. This year, though, the weather was rather pleasant and the walk quite nice.
Yes, yes, people didn’t come out in droves. Afraid someone would toss Covid in the kids’ bags instead of candy. But since we don’t have anyone in the neighborhood that works for the CDC (that we know of), that didn’t happen. And those who did come out, whether to trick-or-treat or to hand out candy, seemed to enjoy the socializing and just being neighborly – even if some took the mask precaution. And even though I heard a neighbor say the turn out was way down, the kids still came home with enough candy to last until next Halloween.
Ethan had a blast. He was on top of the world, dashing up people’s driveways shouting, “Happy Trick-or-Treating!” (I’m not sure he ever realized the holiday is actually called “Halloween”.) Over and over as we trooped along the sidewalks, he exclaimed, “This is awesome!” Only when we left one particularly spooky house did he state emphatically at least three times, “That was not awesome! That was scary!” But he had no nightmares or anything over it, so the excitement far outshone anything scary.
Emry seemed to take it all in stride. Come to think of it, she always has. She’s not overly excited, but she is friendly with the neighbors, polite, and points out the costumes of others. She careful as she crosses the street. She warns Ethan when he’s overly zealous. And if you ask her if she had fun, she states simply, “Yep.” Perhaps she went to the same trick-or-treating training course her cousin Beto did. He joined us that evening with Grandma (my mom) who, trying to be sure he knew the proper etiquette of saying “trick-or-treat” and “thank-you” was informed that he knew all that already: he had been trained.
And Ellyson? She was just delighted to be outside, sitting in her stroller and taking it all in. She lovesbeing outside.
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