the spirit of halloween

I think I killed the Spirit of Halloween.

I didn't mean too. Not really anyway. Celebrating Halloween for me is like getting a colonoscopy, it's probably a good idea to do it but is it really necessary? I know I should, but I don't want to. I don't want to so much that my disdain for the idea oozes out all over the place.

I think the children inadvertently stepped in it. Their enthusiasm for the holiday was lackluster, at best.

Cicely wanted nothing to do with it this year, she's thirteen so it seemed almost appropriate. Jack told me not to bother getting him a costume, he's only 11 so it created guilt for me. Holden just wanted the candy. He refused to wear his Darth Vader costume to school and when I offered to pick him up early that day and miss his party altogether he jumped at the chance.

I forced him to put on his costume so I could take a picture.



Amelia was Belle. Oh, yes she was.



I used to really like Halloween. I would decorate and we'd carve pumpkins but then it became such a chore. When did that happen?

Remember last year when everyone was so paranoid about getting H1N1? Remember how ridiculous that was? Instead of choosing vaccination I chose to be vigilant about my children's general health and when Holden woke Halloween day with a small fever I cancelled Halloween.

Instead, I went to the store and spent $30 on candy and a new DVD. I ordered pizza and let the healthy children do what they wanted to do, stuff their faces full of candy, minus the door to door perpetuation of swine flu. All that candy handling by potentially sick strangers? Yuck! No thanks.

They ate candy. That's all they wanted anyway. And they loved it. We stayed up late and let the Trick or Treaters grab candy from a bowl left on the front step. I proposed it be a new Dabels tradition. What I got to that suggestion was a mutual "No way!"

So this year, come back year, Halloween fell on a Sunday. Which means no Trick or Treating in the traditional sense but instead the ever so fun Trunk or Treat the night before. This is what turned Jack off. Whatever. I'm all for it. In less than 20 minutes Holden and Amelia had a bag full of candy and because the Spirit of Halloween is dead they opted to forgo the family dance to go home and binge on sugar.

Fine by me.

So.... Jack says next year Halloween is on Monday and therefore he will be dressing up.

Holden will forever do what he has to to obtain a bag full of sugar.

Amelia wants to be Belle every year until she is "all growed up".

And me? I made some promises (with my fingers crossed). I promised to be more fun next year. I promised to decorate. I promised (with both sets of fingers crossed) to get a costume of my own. And in one year's time, we'll see who is still reading this blog and if they dare hold me to this fair weathered commitment.

I dare you to try.

And yes, sadly, those two pictures above are the only two pictures I took the whole night, or day, or week .........

I am just that into it.