The One With the Happy Halloween

 

 

 

 

It is Halloween night 2024...and it was quite a busy day.

 

First, it was the first time Kiff and Bri had been around in the past few years. And, it was nice to have the around. They helped pass our candy to our trick-or-treaters. We had 23.

 

Kiff and I also put together our new Halloween decoration - the Plague Doctor. It was unique.

 

We set up our haunted house and we also put out the firepit in the driveway, where we greeted trick or treaters.

 

Kiff left early to go to a Halloween party. But, we got back just in time to have the Great Pumpkin visit. 

 

 

The One With a Happy Halloween

 

 

Tonight is Halloween 2023. And it was definitely a memorable Halloween for a variety of reasons.

 

 

First, Emmie and I hosted our first garage haunted house.We had wanted to jazz up the garage for the holiday, so we decked it out with lights, a skeleton, Halloween decorations, and assorted other things. It was actually pretty cool. We even played music and sound effect playlists on the TV. And, of course, the Great Pumpkin light was on!!!

Then, Emmie and I decided to move the chairs and fire pit to the driveway. We were out there for two hours giving candy to a total of 18 customers (the last four were Kiff and his friends).

Kiff spent time with friends and Bri was at her friends house.

We did have two kind neighbors come by. One complimented us on our yard. The other complimented us on how we have decorated our house over the years, which was also nice to hear.

 

All and all, a very happy Halloween.

The One With 30 Years of Hocus Pocus

 

 

 

 Who would have thought that 30 years ago, this movie came to theaters and would be a Halloween cult classic. I know I didn't. In fact, I never saw the movie in the theater (though my Dad took Patrick to see it - and although he had fun with Patrick, he severely disliked the movie).

 

However, it was fun to go together as a family to see the movie in the theater. It was phenomenal. Getting to see it on the big screen made me aware of some of the dialogue that I had not noticed before, such as when Bette Midler says to Sarah Jessica Parker, "you were dancing behind me, like an idiot." More amazingly, we never realized the Binx the cat - when he was a boy - was played by Sean Murray, better know as McGee on NCIS (as show we have come to love in the past year). That was awesome to see...though he did not provide the voice. 

 

Overall, the experience was great...though hiccupped a little by a group of teens looking for the phone by the climactic ending....clearly they didn't know they could wait ten minutes and the light would come one.

The One With Halloween 2022

 

 

Today was Halloween 2022 and we definitely had a memorable day. This was the first year that Bri and Kiff were on their own with friends. And they were looking forward to it. Here are the highlights of the day.

 

 

 1. In school, I did my annual "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" showing. I have to admit that the 8th graders were more into it than most classes I got. Not only did they get the humor, they also got the nuances and had a lot of commentary.

 2. I booked it out of school as quick as I could. It was weird going to Natick and spending only a short period of time there, instead of setting up the Natick spectacular we used to do.

 3. We quickly made sure to clear off walk when I got home. I also had a chance to chat with John next door for a while.

 4. Sandy next door brought over some goodies for Bri and Kiff.

 5. We had our annual Sweet and Sour Meatballs for supper. I love that food tradition. The kids had to eat quick so they could go out. We watched America's Fact or Fiction: Trick or Treat while eating. I forgot how good that show is.

 6.  Kiff dressed as some mutant Tron character (although I doubt he would put it that way). He had a black track suit with blue lighting. He traveled with a group of friends - Jason, Adrian, Josh, Connor, and Finn. Bri, who changed into her costume at Erica and Raina's house, was the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland.  They met up with Sienna as they trick-or-treated.

7. At home, Emmie and I manned the fort. We had a record 33 trick-or-treaters show up. We've never had that before. Of course, I think it is because Emmie decided to serve full size bars.

8. I did post my annual Halloween Peanuts post on Facebook (with the picture above).

9. The night ended with the yearly visit from the Great Pumpkin. Oh yeah!

The One With Phantoms by Firelight

 

 

 

Last night, we enjoyed Sturbridge Village's latest edition to their holiday programming by going to "Phantoms by Firelight." While we have been at different Village Halloween programs before, this one was just as neat.

The premise was a troupe of traveling performers set up residence in the village. There were acrobats and a knife juggler - which we saw. There were also story tellers, a temptress, singers, and fire jugglers (which we did not see). It was a pretty cool concept.

 

We also worked hard to solve riddles for the Village's Clues for Candy contest, which was neat. Instead of trick or treating, visitors could answer a riddle (or get a stamp) and turn it in for candy while leaving. It was neat.

 

As an added feature, there was a full moon in the sky...which was quite awesome. And the covered bridge was decked out in sound effects...very much like the Ichabod Crane bridge.

Overall, another great Halloween experience in Sturbridge.

The One With the Happy Halloween

Yesterday was Halloween....

It was fabulous and perhaps one of the best Halloweens ever.

It started with Kiff and I helped Nani with putting up decorations to make the house the annual haunt it has been since the late 1980s. Complete with lights, sound effects, and motion activated decorations, we helped get it up and running.


We took the sojourn back home and did the same thing here, creating a friendly light and decoration spectacle of our own (or sound effects did not work)...with the best display we ever had. In between set up, we had a quick lunch and watched a Scooby Doo mystery.


After, we carved our jack o' lanterns, which were great. Then, we had our annual fall meal of sweet and sour meatballs.

Following that, we journey outside. Em wore her small witch hat, Bri was a cheetah, Kiff was a skeleton, and I had a latex Frankenstein mask....fun, but a little smelly.

We went to our neighborhood - unloaded a stash - then went to Stone and Martin...farther than we had ever gone, before the 8:00 bewitching hour came. We even were able to go to the green house which has the Hollywood scare display for the first time...it was great. Kiff saw some classmates on the way, but it was fairly quiet. We only got 17 trick-or-treaters...bummer.

We watched It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, put the kids to bed, then watched The Raven with John Cusack.

Quite a way to spend Halloween.

Happy Halloween

Indeed, what a happy Halloween it was. This past Friday - I love Halloweens on Friday - we celebrated Halloween in great fashion.

First, Kiff and I worked outside and set up our lights. We try to have a nice display outside for Halloween. We then came in and had our standard Sweet and Sour Meatball meal. Emmie always loves that to usher in Halloween.

It took a little time to get ready, but we put on our costumes.
Emmie was a medieval lass.
Bri, who had gone as a pirate fairy for a school function, went as a Native American princess.
Kiff went as a police officer.
I was a pirate. I am going to do this costume again.

We went trick or treating in our neighborhood. It was hardly busy. We only saw a handful of people...which is sad. Many people left candy bowls at their doors....usually, we only run into three houses like this; but this year, I think we found ten. We were able to see some neighbors get into it, which was great. Nana held the fort at our house. We only had about 12 visitors, down from 26 last year.

We did our typical routine and actually wanted to extend it...but the kids were tired.

We came back, they had a visit from the Great Pumpkin - who always visits in the back - and then we came in to have a few bites of candy. Bri wanted to watch the Disney Legend of Sleepy Hollow (I love that show) which we did. Then, we watched some fun Halloween shows while they fell asleep downstairs campfire style. We brought them upstairs then watched a Halloween History show (which was cool) and the end of Bride of Frankenstein.

What a Halloween!!!