Halloween, continued..

After chemo, it is time to carve some jack o'lanterns.  There are still two boy at the house, and I ask if they would like to help.  Once they realize that I am not going to let them do the carving, they quickly lose interest.  I was hoping they would give me their ideas on what the pumpkins should look like, but this pales in comparison to the idea of holding a knife.  One child suggests that he could do it with a plastic knife.  When I tell him that a plastic knife isn't going to cut the pumpkin flesh, he gives up on the pumpkin idea.

I manage to get two done before my fingers get too tingly. With my fishing gloves on, I can empty out the pumpkin guts from the remaining pumpkins.  Ayla and Chauncey stop by and join in on the carving.  They are really enjoying themselves, and I am glad.  It is too hard to carve the pumpkins with gloves on.

We set the pumpkins on the steps and in the window boxes and find candles to light them up.  They make the approach to the house look so spooky!  Alex and Filipa come by with a few more pumpkins they carved earlier in the day.  The house is starting to look ready for trick or treaters.

Steve is busy trying to get our costume together.  Originally we were supposed to be two people in one costume, but because it is a little chilly and my fingers are very sensitive from the chemo today.  Instead he rigs up our mask so he can do it solo.  He puts it on a long pole and secures it to the front railing.  With the help of Ayla, they arrange the robe so that Steven can stand behind it unseen, and pass out the candy.  The fabric is made of a mesh that is dense enough that he can't be seen behind it in the existing light, but he can see well enough to see the kids coming up the steps. We take some photography lamps and make a spotlight, which casts an eerie shadow.

Alex and Filipa put on their costumes, Alex is Paul Bunyan, and Filipa is Princess Bubblegum from adventure time. They look so sweet!  I really love Alex's Babe, the big blue ox.  A blue helium balloon with an on oxen face taped to it, that bobs along behind him.

The trick or treaters start in a trickle around five thirty and are out in full force by six fifteen. There is a steady stream of Halloween traffic on my street until about eight, when it slows down again.  Many of my daycare children past and present stop by to say hello.  More have probably stopped by than I know, it was too cold for me to be out too long, so I stayed inside making appearances when Steve called me.

Alex and Filipa come home with a decent haul, describing to me how things looked in the neighborhood.  Most of the people passing out candy recognized Alex as Paul Buyan, Princess Bubblegum was popular with the trick or treating crowd.

All in all, it was a good night.  We had about five hundred goblins of all sizes come to our door, some fearless, some scared at first, but willing to be brave for candy.  There were even a few that decided it was not worth coming up the steps, and just walked on by.  Now to figure out how to store that mask until next year...