Ghosts and Goblins, Oh My!

Finally...the day we'd been waiting for all month long! And I have to say, it was still kind of fun even though it felt like the weekend had already come and gone and taken Halloween with it. But no. In fact, this year we actually made it out for some real trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. It was a cool evening but not bad, so the costumes weren't totally hidden beneath winter coats. Elisa reprised her role as a pirate and we teamed up with friends Oliver, Birdie, and Leonardo to take the houses by storm. The kids definitely got into it after just a few practice runs and all was going well until we ran into a few of the older kids out making their presence known. A few had on creepy masks and other scary costumes that sent Elisa over the edge. She was not a fan of masks, we found out. I managed to move her along and keep her out of their way for the most part, but her tense face and stiffened limbs showed me she was definitely scared. Poor thing. I suppose the spookier side of Halloween is a bit much still for a three year old. But nevertheless, we had a good time with friends going up 45th Street and back down 46th Street. And even though she started the evening by asking to eat her candy after each new house, she figured out pretty quickly that you just can't keep up. I was especially surprised that she preferred pretzels to chocolate. For shame! Of course, within the hour, Elisa was announcing she wanted to go home and we were able to relax a bit with friends, order pizza and then call it an early night. Carolina was a doll throughout and didn't mind taking a bottle on the go. I swear this kid spoils me. Handing out candy at our friends' house was a great chance to see just how much candy it takes to sustain the hordes who stop by. We were out of goodies before 7:30 p.m.! Even though the Gardens get hit pretty hard with droves of trick-or-treaters, it's still probably the best place to enjoy it in this city. There's a distinct feeling that this is the best part of living in NYC, within a real community. It's what reminds me how great Sunnyside is, and how lucky I am to raise my kids here. And even though we kind of phoned it in on the costume this year, I look forward to raising the bar with two trick-or-treaters next year. Maybe I can find a hers-and-hers theme that works or just make them big/mini versions. Hmmmmm...either way, I'll be hoping that they like dressing up and tromping around in the dark as much as I did as a kid. And I might have to borrow from my dad and bring a thermos with spiked cider in it next year. Now there's a reason to trick-or-treat!