Halloween

Though its’ true meaning is harder to discern than that of Christmas, Halloween has something for nearly everyone. From the ritualistic barbarism of carving pumpkins (“Time for your lobotomy Jack.”) to parading about in costumes that would be inappropriate any other day, many people find an outlet for their darker side each October 31st. Of course, some people are just in it for the candy.

That is true of the Ragsdale boys, at least the elder. He likes candy! He doesn’t even eat much of it. But he sure loves to play with it. Each little fun-sized piece is treated like prized trophy. Counted and cataloged, then played with as long as possible. Lucas was allowed to eat three pieces Halloween night and oh-my-goodness he was a blur of a crazed sugar fiend. Never has he been so wild. He’s had sweets before but coupled with the excitement of the holiday and it was an amazing transformation.

Along with Aunt Karen, we took the boys downtown to go trick-or-treating in the daylight with little fear of razorblades. You can’t trust people who live in sketchy houses, but if they work downtown they’re fine. Even at the pawnshop. It’s a no-lose situation. Troy skips out of work early (a big plus), it’s still light out, we get to see lots of other kids in the get-ups, collect gobs of candy, get home before the weather turns and still have the fun of giving out treats to those who canvas our neighborhood.

This year Lucas decided to be a cowboy which was easy to put together. The hardest part was convincing him that it was OK to put a star on a hat, as opposed to buying a hat that already had a star on it.

Jack is obsessed with mailmen. So we ordered a costume for him, a mailman uniform. This was a stretch. Kim isn’t used to buying costumes and certainly not planning far enough ahead to allow time for shipping. Splurging for Jack was my doing. Kim is making progress but she still has issues with Halloween due to her upbringing. Just don’t mention Unicef and she’ll be alright. Jack wouldn’t keep the pith helmet on, but he was adorable nonetheless collecting candy in the mailbag. I wanted to put a couple of envelopes filled with powdered sugar in the bag to simulate anthrax, but apparently I’m the only one in the house to think that is funny.

Jack didn’t want to walk. More to the point, he refused to be put down so he didn’t get nearly as much candy as his brother. He seems to like sucking on a chocolate bar to the point where it is reduced to a wet, brown blob but he won’t finish eating it. He then smears his hands on any and everything within reach, so it’s probably for the best that we limited his haul.

We then picked up some dinner and headed home to greet the trick-or-treaters. Karen had other plans for the evening, but Uncle Dave came over to hang out with us. I can’t tell you why, but I enjoy being on the giving end of Halloween doorstep exchange. As many of you know, I used to add a can of tuna to the bowl of candy and then give the kids their choice. Most thought I was loony but many of the parents seemed to enjoy the oddity. Most importantly I thought it was funny.

A few years ago I brain-stormed with Marty to come up with a better idea. Top Ramen was the answer. Scoff if you want, but it will just show your ignorance. The kids loved! I remember one kid yelling “You’re the best, man!” Another mentioned that they could go home and have dinner. There was even one mom who told us their kids just wanted to come back to the Top Ramen house. They had remembered us from the year before. There are many benefits to the soup. It’s not so sugary (never mind what is in it), it’s unique, and it’s cheap. I found them ten for a dollar, far cheaper than a bag of candy.

For his part, Marty kept threatening to blow me out of the water by giving tiny bottles of booze to the parents. Despite living in Seattle, he only gets a handful of trick-or-treaters at his house. We usually get about fifty and I can’t afford to supply that many airline-sized bottles.

This year I switched to Otter Pops. After some debate, we decided to freeze them. Even if they melted the kids could re-freeze them at home. Dave and I had a good time quizzing them. We started off by asking what is the “true meaning of Halloween?” But got no answers, so I switched to asking for a famous person born that day. John Candy was the most fitting answer, but again no one could fill in the blank. Kids don’t study for their holidays anymore. Lucas was cute, he would stand in the doorway and yell at the retreating backs “Be careful they might melt.”

We had a slow start this year and I feared it wasn’t going to be a good night, but we ended up with a record turn-out. Seventy seven kids came to our door! I had only frozen fifty or so and towards the end of the night I was giving out Otter Pops that were barely chilled. In case you didn’t know, they come in sheets of ten with perforated sides and they tear apart much more easily when they are frozen. At one point Kim and Dave took the boys out to see the neighbors, the boys scored some great stuff from the neighbors (one family had put together bags of candy for the kids). Back home, I got a phone call when a couple of late-teens were at the door. I left the young men standing there while I spoke on the phone then went to the freezer to get their goodies but found nothing frozen. Oh well, I tried tearing a couple loose only to end up wearing a blue one. That happened a few times, but I quickly learned to avoid spilling it on myself.