Better Than the Best Halloween of My Whole Life

Seth and I had a bit of a disagreement over what I should title this post. I wanted to call it "The Halloween That Never Ends" (sort of like "The Song That Never Ends"). He insisted instead that I call it "Better Than the Best Halloween of My Whole Life," relating to my last year's Halloween blog post. Ironically, Seth's reason for thinking this was the best Halloween ever is that it lasted five days. I'm not kidding. When I was a kid, Halloween was one day: October 31st. That was it. Not this year. Halloween 2010 went on and on and on. For five days.

First, Wednesday night was the carnival and trick-or-treating at MSU-Billings, where I teach. It was a fun party. Seth loved trick-or-treating through the dorms. What a perfect way to get lots of candy quickly and stay nice and warm.

Thursday night was a Halloween-themed Cub Scout Pack Meeting. Can I just tell you right now that Cub Scout Pack Meetings are like Chinese Water Torture. Enough said.

Friday night was the carnival at Seth's school. This is most certainly an annual tradition for us. We have attended all six years we've lived in Billings, our first year when Eli was in 6th grade and Seth was just four. This year, it only took Seth three tries to win the cake walk. Perhaps his luck is changing? He participated in all the other activities as well, and we ended the evening at the book fair, where he showed me many "wishes" for Christmas.

Saturday night was trunk-or-treat at our church. We combined with another ward, so it was a big event. A costume parade, chili cook-off, games, and of course trunk-or-treat rounded out the evening. I got to sit with Jared and Kim (see Jared, you made it into the blog AGAIN!), which was a lovely treat for me. I miss them now that they've moved out of our ward.

Are you tired of Halloween yet? But wait... We can't forget "Halloween proper" Sunday night. This year, Seth and his friend Tommy begged Natalie and me to let them go by themselves. I was a little wary, but with some strict rules, we finally agreed. Seth took Gerald's phone, so we could communicate. We let them go up and down Tommy's street, checking in with Natalie regularly. Then we let them go up and down our street, checking in with me. They thought they were pretty cool. About the time they finished, Eli arrived home with five of his friends, all seniors in high school, dressed in costumes carrying pillow cases full of candy. I'll resist commenting on 17-year-olds trick-or-treating.

So the Halloween that never ends finally ended. Thank heavens! For this fairly non-Halloween mom, it was a long week. But today, oh today, I happily took down all the orange and black decorations and put up the few Thanksgiving decorations I have. I put on some Christmas music and began wrapping presents. Pure delight. Let the season begin!