There are 54 shopping days until Christmas. You may officially begin to panic.
Our first Thompson Halloween went well, in spite of the cold. I think the temperature was around -8C (17.6F), so retrofitting the costumes was mandatory. We had to abandon the Shrek outfit for Sontoo, as we simply could not get enough insulation into the equation.
A quick hunt the in basement turned up half a skunk costume, a cow costume and a monkey costume that Sonwun wore last year. We went with the monkey, as it fit over Sontoo's snowsuit and came equipped with a nice warm hat/head. Personally, I went with the top half of the kids' cow costume, just 'cause I thought it was funny.
Sonwun, the fearless Knight
As for Sonwun, we swapped out the Knight pants with snow pants, the Knight's boots with snow boots, and packed on about four sweaters beneath his tunic. The chain mail helmet sufficed for headwear.
Neomom loaded the kids up and headed out while I stayed back to hand out the loot. I was joined about 15 minutes later, when Sontoo decided he'd had enough of the whole "looking cute" thing and returned to the warmth of the house.
Sonwun, on the other hand, would have gone all night. He's at the age where he's figured out this whole Halloween thing mathematically (T+CC=L). Time plus cute costume equals loot. And he was more than willing to put in the time.
After an hour or so on the streets, Neomom and the Knight headed over to a friend's house about 5 minutes from here, where Sonwun was given what he called a virgin "jello firer." And, when they got home, Daddy received three non-virgin jello shooters. Thanks Shari and Ty!
Visitors to the front door here in Thompson were pretty much the same as anywhere else, with one notable exception. There were plenty of cute kids out early, all dressed up and under the watchful eye of mom or dad. They loved my cow costume. As the evening wore on, the teens, wearing little or no costumes whatsoever, made an appearance to collect their loot. They kinda sneered at the cow.
And finally, the notable exception. Just when we thought the night was over, we turned off the porch light. And then we got the knock on the door and opened it to find two full-grown adults, dressed as homeless alcoholics, (convincing costumes, complete with cooking sherry cologne) carrying four full shopping bags of candy each.
I gave them each a handful of candy and, at their request, supplied them with a few more grocery bags and sent them on their way. Next year, I will prepare a couple of big ol' nutritious sandwiches to supplement their Halloween diet, and keep them handy, just in case. I only hope they found a warm place to curl up last night and enjoy the loot.
So that, in a nutshell, was our first Thompson Halloween experience. Honestly, it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. There were no local mishaps on Devil's Night, or Gate Night. And on Halloween, we dressed for the cold, our visitors were, for the most part, polite and well-behaved. Now all that's left is a week or two of sugar-fuelled mayhem in the house.
No comments:
Post a Comment