Halloween 2020

It was a memorable (isn't everything, in 2020?) Halloween.  I was initially feeling sorry myself, because 1- Allen has COVID, 2- Truman is gone at college, 3- Brigham was at a party, and 4- Mollie went trick-or-treating with friends. So it was just me and Calvin.  But he was so happy and indefatigable that I couldn't stay sad.  Also, his costume might be THE BEST ONE WE HAVE EVER MADE.  

The Beast from Over the Garden Wall

If you haven't seen Over the Garden Wall, you must.  It is the most delightful cartoon since Avatar: the Last Airbender.  It's funny, spooky, quirky, and the entire series is only two hours long--there are ten, 12-minute episodes and we watched it together as a family and now we all go around saying things like, "Aint that just the way?" and "That's a rock fact!" and "We're here to burgle your turts!"

This is the creepy villain of the story, which Calvin was so excited to be for Halloween:

Allen and I had invited four other couples to a "Beard and Wig" Halloween party in our backyard.  I bought all the food for gumbo and beignets, spent all day Wednesday prepping the backyard, and ordered Viking hair for the two of us . . . but when Allen started feeling sick on Wednesday night, we knew we had to call it off.  I texted everyone Thursday morning and cancelled.  Allen got the COVID test Thursday afternoon, then we went to the courthouse and voted in advance, and we had his results within an hour: positive.  

*Funny sidenote: When I called the hospital to ask about how to come in and get tested, Allen kept telling me, "I want to ask them a question when you're done."  Once I had all the information, I told the nurse that Allen had a question, and then I repeated it over the phone: "My husband wants to know if you are going to stick something up his nose."  

The answer was yes.  And, unfortunately, it was just as unpleasant as he feared it would be.*

Okay, back to the Beard-and-Wig party.  Last time we had one was EIGHT YEARS ago, which is hard to believe.  But since it was postponed, I guess it will be nine years until we celebrate again with our hairy friends.  This is what we would have worn:

Helga and Hagar!  My poor, sick Viking!

And our friends were so kind when they heard about Allen.  They all put on their wigs and beards and sent us pictures:

Troy shaved his beard as soon as he heard the party was off,
John and Julie both donned blonde wigs.  Brandi and Meg sent
pictures from wigs past, and then Brandi and Jeremy took 
a new photo for 2020.  Next year, for sure!

Mollie and I had fun assembling her fox costume.  We got the gloves online, but everything else was from Wal-Mart.  I bought a big, orange-brown scarf and cut a small section out of the middle, used it to make ears, then sewed it back together.  In her first teenage act as a teenager, Mollie went trick-or-treating with her teenage friends.  She wore a mask with her fox costume all Halloween night, to be on the safe side.  I kept expecting her to call me and say she wanted to be done and go with Calvin.  But she didn't.  I am so glad she had such a great time, even as I wipe a tear from my eye.

I love how her fox costume turned out!

This picture makes me laugh so hard

The tweens and teens!
Delaney Johnson, Sara Fryar, Kaden Peterson, Dechlan Gwynn,
Will Koller, MOLLIE, Sophie ?, Tag Stephens, Riley Watkins

Calvin and I trick-or-treated for TWO AND A HALF HOURS.  Mollie joined us for the last half hour, but she had been with her friends for four hours already, and she was ready to be done.  

Despite my assurances that it was okay to run across lawns on October 31st when the grass is dead and dying, Calvin said "That's rude, Mom!" and only walked on sidewalks.  I should have put my Garmin on his wrist--I'll bet he walked six miles over three blocks of houses.  He kept running back to the car window to exclaim about each house/treat/decoration.  I heard Kirk Hansen ask him, "Can you have peanut butter?" and Calvin responded loudly, "Yes.  Why'd you ask me THAT?"  

It was pretty cute.  I was grinning, listening to him.  While I slowly drove and parked, I was also having a hilarious Marco Polo conversation, via the wonders of technology, with Cori.

"He asked me if I could have peanut butter . . . that's nuts!" 😉

Calvin wanted to pose in front of every well-decorated house

We ordered "glowing eyes" from Amazon and I Frankensteined an exercise headband to hold the lightbulbs, with wires going down into Calvin's pocket with the battery.  Everyone loved his costume, and he loved being anonymous behind that black mask.

My loot!  

Calvin's night was made perfect when he had a full 67 more pieces of candy than Mollie (take that, teenagers!).  Allen's night was also made perfect by lying on the couch and playing video games by himself for three straight hours, something he hasn't done for years.  

All in all, even though things are much different than they have been, it was a pretty good night. 

The tradition lives on! (I love Mollie looking incredulously at the bottle of Pepsi someone gave)

PS- bonus picture of my cute mom on Halloween night 2020!