Halloween postmortem blog.

Most of November so far has looked like November, with the requisite overcast skies and drizzle, though there have been heavy rains, which I understand is unusual for this time of year. Today was clear and cool but not cold. The sunny side of November. All of the trees in our yard have gone naked for the season, leaves gone as surely as the bits of Halloween décor have returned to their crypts in the garages of the nation.

We're still feasting on Halloween candy, which Lilly and Ann collected in quantity on Sunday, about an hour before sunset. So much of it remains that Lilly and I could have the following exchange:

Me: “Give me a peanut butter eyeball.”

Her: “You get a purple one.”

The candy in question was one of the little chocolate globes with a peanut butter center wrapped in eyeball foil. In my case, the iris of the eyeball was purple. Pretty tasty.

It’s been a while since Halloween fell on a weekend, since it leaped from Friday last year to Sunday this year because of leap year. I remember one weekend Halloween when Lilly was too young to do any collecting, but stayed at home with me to distribute candy. She was not quite a year old, and had recently hoisted herself up to start walking – it was that very month, October 1998. That year, all the kids came during the day, and I have a vivid memory of two kids aged about three to five, dressed as Teletubbies in bright costumes that looked like they could have done duty on the show itself.

I think Lilly went to collect candy for the first time in 2000. You’d think I’d remember for sure, but I don’t. I know we went in 2001, on a warmish night. That was the Halloween of Osama bin Ladin and anthrax, and also the night Lilly was too tired to go on, and demanded that I carry her a few blocks home. Which I did. This wouldn’t be possible any more, except in extreme emergencies. Ann, though, still can and probably will use the services of Dad the porter. This year, I had to carry her sometimes to keep up the Lilly, who, as the Blue Fairy, went about her business with remarkable focus.