Halloween is an odd holiday for us in some ways. As Christians we struggle with what it represents on a broad and deep level, but on a surface level we just cannot resist the temptation to dress our little toddlers up in adorable outfits and roam the streets with them. We love hearing them say "Trick or Treat" with their silly slurs, while also adoring the get-ups of hundreds of other little kids. And the fond memories are ones that remain indelibly etched into their minds, as well as ours.
We have a tradition in our home, probably much like many other Americans, of carving pumpkins the night before Halloween. We usually buy a pumpkin for each person in the family and then have a contest to see who can carve the best one (a very subjective judging process, of course). This year we teamed up and Poppy joined Victoria, and Willow joined me (although she quickly became disinterested after about ten seconds into the carving). Barret had his own pumpkin too. I'm competitive by nature and always like to think that I have the best one year in and year out. Of course no one likes a show-off and I've been automatically disqualified to ever win this competition, being accused of exhibiting large amounts of distasteful hubris. I have to admit that it's pretty disgusting, although I do play it up a bit just to get the goads of the rest of the family members. In my mind I won again this year, but everyone else felt otherwise. Poppy and Victoria carved a cute little face that included a beauty mark reminiscent of Annie's (we really missed her and Austin this year as they almost always partake in the festivities). Deep down I have to admit that theirs was pretty dang sweet.
Trick or treating last night did not disappoint, even though it was a bit damp. We managed to squeeze in our candy gathering right in between rain showers, so we remained dry the whole night. In fact, Poppy's bunny rabbit outfit ended up being a tad too warm at times. Willow was a lady-bug, a Chinese symbol of good luck. The girls scored with plenty of candy, only to be secretly snarfed by Mom, Dad and Barret without them looking. It won't be long before they're on to us and our hidden thievery, so we're taking advantage of it while we can.
It's now unbelievably November 1st, and we've got our sights on Thanksgiving in Oregon. In spite of the gloomy and horrifying news we're surrounded by, we pinch ourselves everyday and can't believe we're the recipients of such enormous amounts of grace, even the grace of possible "hardship" (whatever that looks like).
Thankfully,
Tom (& Victoria)
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