It all came down to an eleventh-hour scramble during which time we somehow managed to pull off a pretty frightful weekend.
During the week I hemmed an academic robe for James' Dumbledore costume, and wrote a psalm parady and finished a scrapbook for a couple at church who is retiring elsewhere after 40 years.
Thursday was choir practice, followed by Gospel Choir Concert practice.
Friday evening we finally got going on the holiday. We hit the Spirit of Halloween store for some spooky inspiration and a few small costume accessories, then we did a quick run into Home Depot where we purchased half price pumpkins (one advantage to procrastination). After that we had an extra choir rehearsal to try out a candidate for the organist/choirmaster position, and then enjoyed a greasy dinner at Pizza Slut.
On Saturday, we slept in....aaaaah....and then revved it up with pumpkin carving, decorating the porch, drinking apple cider and roasting pumpkin seeds. Alan took a spin up to Milo to help his mom finish cleaning out her storage unit and came back to carve his pumpkin masterpiece while the kids were sleeping.
On Sunday we awoke to Jeremy's proclamation that "IT'S SNOWING!!" and "I CAN'T BELIEVE IT SNOWED ON HALLOWEEN" which was oft-repeated throughout the day. Like many Mainers, we shook our heads and dressed warmly and went about our business. We went to church and stayed for the farewell party at which the choir sang my psalm parody and everyone got emotional and ate sheet cake. And then we raced home--via JoAnn Fabrics for materials for Jamie's hat--so Madeline and I could get into costume and grab PB&J and drive to a Girl Scout Halloween party thinly disguised as a birthday party for founder Juliette Low. In Hudson. The girls agreed that it was "okay". I suspect the goody bags and cupcakes tipped the scales toward worthwhile and was grateful that our time spent in the cavernous (read: noisy) gymnasium was not quite enough to give me a full-blown migraine. Then it was back home with M's friend, Auralee, in tow so the hippie chicks could trick-or-treat together. Meanwhile, Alan worked on leveling the porch enough to open the front door and James fashioned a pair of wire spectacles. He put the finishing touches on his beard while I made his hat. Then I threw the kids into costumes and the car and picked up Mum and went to see Great Aunt Betty at Dirigo Pines, and the Fergusons on Spencer Street. Then it was back home for dinner and additional finishing touches such as glow sticks and flashlights and Jeremy's pirate beard & mustache and belt-sheath repairs (already!). During this time our only two trick-or-treaters (a blue-haired thing and an eye-popping ghoul) showed up at the now-functional front door. Auralee's dad arrived and the hunting foray began (Alan selflessly volunteered to stay behind to tend the door and watch the Patriots game). We roamed the neighborhood, James racing ahead and Jeremy lagging behind. I was glad to have Rad there to help herd them across the dark streets. When we finally got home the kids were wound up and I was ready for bed at, like, 8pm.
For some reason photodocumentation was not top of the priority list (ya think?!), although Jeremy took about a hundred pictures of a stuffed Snoopy while I was carving his pumpkin for him. To his exact specifications. He was getting annoying with the camera, but at least it kep him from helpfully shoving knives in my general direction. Here's what's blogworthy:
[oh yeah, we made meatballs from the Biggest Loser cookbook (quite good actually) and James could not resist making the meat look like brains. Are you a vegetarian yet?!?]
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