Halloween Ghosts

Last night we were visited by two of the Halloween ghosts. Appropriate, don’t you think? The first of our ‘spirited’ visitors was the ghost of Halloween past. He showed up early in the afternoon as we reminisced about past Halloween costumes and activities. We talked about our favorite costumes of years past and last year’s trick or treating as we thought about you all out in the frozen north. Brynn and Kori were especially animated as they remembered last year. They set out together in the typical Halloween weather just after supper. As they went from house to house, they forgot to pay attention to where they were going and eventually realized they were lost – in Heritage Hills. (don’t laugh, they are definitely their mother’s daughters) Being teenagers, they decided to just keep trick or treating until they recognized something and could find their way home. After some time, they had enough candy in their pillowcases that the weight of them was starting to cause problems and besides that, they had lost all feeling in their toes. That was when they reevaluated their priorities, quit trick or treating and began to concentrate on finding their way home. To make a very long story somewhat shorter, they eventually got home, totally frozen and the first thing they did was get out the scale and weigh their bags. Each had over 20 pounds of candy!
Back to yesterday. At about 4:30 in the afternoon, the ghost of Halloween present showed up in the form of two little girls. The girls (about 8 years old) were shyly standing at the bottom of our steps trying to decide what to do. They were both dressed in their play clothes but one of them still had on her school uniform shirt. I opened the door and said hello whereupon they whispered ‘trick or treat?’. I excitedly handed them each one of the little treat bags I had prepared. Each of the girls shook my hand, thanked me and wished me a happy Halloween. All told we had about 17 kids come to our door last night. They were all dressed in shorts and t-shirts because it was about 29 degrees out (ha ha). Only one had what might pass as a costume. He was wearing a home made mask. None of them had even a grocery bag for candy. There are very, very few people in the village who could afford to give out candy. I’m sure each of the kids went home with less than 20 candies let alone 20 pounds of candy. But they were all laughing and having fun which was the important part for them.
The ghost of Halloween future didn’t pop in yesterday but I wonder what he would have shown us. Part of me hopes he would show me a time when the kids of this village would be able to leave their houses on Halloween night with bags and take for granted the bags would be full by the time they returned home. And part of me hopes they never lose the joy they found in the little things last night. Maybe they will manage to hold onto both?