Hallowe'en

When you have a kid, Hallowe'en is different. It reminded me of my childhood. I am also reminded of the parties I went to in high school and University. Those were the days. This year, our two-year-old ventured to a few more houses. She quickly clued-in. "Let's go trick or treating at that house," she said, and "let's knock on that door.". At the beginning, it was fine to visit the houses of people we knew. They learn fast.

My other enduring memory of Hallowe'en was wearing a winter coat over my costume. It snowed many years. This year, we had fabulous weather,. I walked around with her in a short-sleeved shirt.

We got the pumpkin early and, of course, the little one couldn't wait to carve it. The first face was too scary, so we added a second face at the back. As Hallowe'en approached our Janus-faced pumpkin started to decay and rot. In my mind, we had the perfect pumpkin. The insides had turned black, the rear face collapsed and looked like an eighty year old with no teeth. It was the scariest pumpkin on the street. My fingers punctured the sides when I picked it up to carry it to the composter the next day.

Tags: Halloween, parenting