Tricks and Treats: On Fear, Bravery, and Halloween

When I was a kid, we lived down the street from our local pastor. Despite some of his congregation’s hesitations about the holiday, he absolutely loved Halloween.

I don’t remember how he decorated his house or if he ever wore costumes. I don’t remember what kind of candy he passed out. I remember two things about Pastor John’s house on Halloween night: he always looked delighted to see us, and he always made us do a trick before we could get a treat.

Apparently, this is a custom in certain areas but it wasn’t a custom in ours. As far as we knew, it was just Pastor John.

At first, the idea of performing on his front doorstep was terrifying. Should I tell a joke or sing a song? What if I wasn’t good enough? What if he gave me a rock instead of candy like those horrible adults in It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown?

But I did it. I was brave.

To me, bravery is what Halloween is all about.

Advertisement

Halloween Photos

I can’t believe I waited a whole week to post these! We had a lot of fun on Halloween this year: it was both kids’ first time trick-or-treating and they had a BLAST. I was really scared that Sam would back out like he did last year, but I got him to agree to go if we went out before dark. Consequently, we were the only kids on the street for at least half an hour, but that also meant people had plenty of candy and were eager to hand it out (if they were home from work… which not everyone was). There was only one really scary house (life-size singing witches!) and though he was afraid, Sam has been thrilled to talk about it with everyone he meets.

Anyhow. Look at my kids!

Gidget, from The Secret Life of Pets. (If you’re worried she was cold with no sleeves, don’t be–I wore the same fur and it was SO WARM.)

Pops, from The Secret Life of Pets (though we nixed the wheels because they made it hard to walk).

I was Gidget’s mom. Not a character from the movie–but come on, every puppy has a mom.

If you wondered where my kids got the ham gene…

First house (I think)! And then Daddy stopped taking pictures.

 

Happy Halloween!

It’s Halloween! Bring on the candy corn, the costumes, and the pumpkins full of wine. Our plans this year are pretty low-key: take the kids trick-or-treating (if they’ll wear their costumes–they’ve both been back-and-forth on that subject though they BEGGED me to make them Pops and Gidget from The Secret Life of Pets), get them all sugared up before bed, and hope they actually go to sleep with enough time left for Mommy and Daddy to watch The Rocky Horror Picture Show before falling into a sugar coma ourselves.

Pretty classic.

This will be both my kids’ first times trick-or-treating. Sam was all set to go last year but he backed out. Before that, he nixed the idea in August and would flip out on me if I even mentioned it. Before that, he was too little to know tricks from treats, anyway.

Here’s hoping it’s a magical night for all of us. Spooky and exciting, sweet and fun, with just the right amount of fear to build our kids’ characters, whatever ages they are. Here’s to venturing out after dark, ringing the doorbell of a stranger, and all the thrills that come with every trick and treat.