Best Halloween Ever?

I’ve seen and heard a lot of adjectives used to describe this year and its events, not a lot of them positive or suitable for polite company. I certainly haven’t heard very much of it called “best ever” but that’s exactly what my daughter had to say when asked if she had enjoyed her Halloween.

She was overtired, hopped up on too many mini snickers and given time to reflect would probably be able to remember at least one or two previous years that were more fun but it was great to hear. I had spent a lot of time over the past few weeks worrying about disappointing her.

She won’t go as far as to say that she likes Halloween more than Christmas, it’s just too hard to compete with all of those presents, but it’s a very close second on her favorite holiday list. October is usually a busy month of hitting every spooky activity and excuse to dress up as possible. Last weekend we found a haunted trail that served as a fundraiser for an equine rescue farm nearby, there was pumpkin carving and nights on the couch watching scary movies but for the most part nothing much was going on. A planned screening of Hocus Pocus on the town green Friday night was canceled due to snow of all things. People seemed resigned to just skip it this year, another aspect of the year erased by the specter of Covid.

We were not but options were slim. We started at another horse farm for some donkey petting and a pony ride, hit one of the only trunk or treats still running this year and then skipped another that was more crowded than we were comfortable with. Quick stops at a grammy and friend’s house to show off her costume and then it was time for pizza and another viewing of The Nightmare Before Christmas at home. After a few kids came knocking on our door we went to a few neighbors but nobody was really out. The streets were pretty empty, responsibility winning out over tradition.

So what made her so happy? Just being able to do anything. I’d spent so much time trying to keep her expectations low that I think the poor kid had just about come to terms with the fact that Halloween was just one more thing canceled this year, another loss in a year that’s been full of them. She also liked spending the entire day with both of her parents, something that doesn’t happen very often.

I think that a lot of times kids have better attitudes about this stuff than we do, an innate ability to appreciate little things and live in the moment that I don’t understand how we lose. It doesn’t matter to her how much less we did this year than last. She got to dress up and spend a day with her family while strangers gave her candy and told her how cool she looked.