Halloween: From Stressed to Blessed

Everything seemed to be going wonderfully, as we prepared for our simple Halloween dinner with

our family and friends, until I remembered....shoot.....the pumpkins.  We had forgotten to finish carving the pumpkins.

This was just the beginning of a stress filled Halloween that took a very surprising turn later on.

So, Kurt and a few of our girls carved into the pumpkins.

So, on to dinner... our girls really wanted to get out more on time for trick or treating, but as much as we tried to start dinner on time, to no avail.  6 pm rolls around and we're still all at the table.

I'm starting to feel the squeeze.

Then everyone is off to put on their costumes.  But we forget about small details like wearing layers, so everyone is warm enough.  So, making sure every girl is well dressed, matching with their costumes....yikes!  I felt that stress creeping up.  And all we're trying to do is to simply get out the door!

Then, as I try to get myself quickly ready, I feel this headache coming on.  Seriously?!  Ok, take two Advil for the road, let's do this....and I prayed I wouldn't be grumpy!

Ok, attitude check!

So, we finally get out the door, then there's the picture!  Group picture!  Everyone huddles up as Kurt quickly puts the finished carved pumpkins out with the candles!

Quick admiration for the pumpkins and then off!  That Halloween rush always seems to be ghoulishly present.  I say to myself, “next year, this will be different!” (We'll see!  lol!)

Finally, we are off and here's where we are TOTALLY caught off guard!

First of all, it was so much fun (and so helpful!) to have our friend Alecia along for the fun.  

And then came our neighbors.

Our neighbors lavishly give candy and sweet gifts to our girls.  I don't just mean handfuls of candy, but Chris actually sewed these cute little Halloween bags for the girls and filled them with all kinds of fun treats.  Michelle, another neighbor, also got them each a bag filled with glow sticks and super-fun and spooky Halloween stuff.

Seriously?!

Then another family had these fun Halloween cups and filled them up with special girly treats like lip-gloss and nail polish all wrapped up in a cute bag.  And…yes, another family made cute candy bags for our kids and the let us see their fish and hold their hamsters while we all chatted.

And last, but not least, there was Sandy and Marlene's house.  Sandy is 49 years old with developmental disabilities and every year she dresses up and has a "Haunted Bedroom".  We stand in line and she gives us a ticket, after which we enter into the spooky bedroom with scary music, lights and all.

At each of these neighbors’ houses we lingered and chatted.  Some of them invited us in, and we just hung out, sitting on the floor, eating candy and doing the Halloween thing.

What’s the point of all this?  Well, see our neighbors didn’t do this for every kid on the street.  They did it just for our kids.  All of this reminded us of the blessing of community.  We don’t live in an age that encourages this.  We’re all so stuck on our devices to talk to neighbors, right?! 

But here we saw the sweetness of mutual enjoyment of the simple pleasures of friendship.  It takes effort on both sides, but this is one of the great pleasures of life.