A Different Halloween

HALLOWEEN!!! How luck am I that my only son married into a family with as much love and outrageous abandon as I have for this often misunderstood holiday!

We all began early in October looking at pumpkins and planning for our All Hallows Eve. The kids began running through the house singing "This is Halloween!" from "The Nightmare Before Christmas", one of their very favorite movies and planning their all-important costumes.

Paul, ever the transformer, insisted that this year he would be Bumblebee. However, he settled for Optimus Prime when no Bumblebee costume was available.

Ellen insisted on reprising my Tinkerbell costume from last year believing that she could not only outdo me in costuming, but beauty as well. She more than succeeded.

And Maggie, our very imaginative and independent grandaughter, vowed that nothing would do but a "Glenda the good witch" costume from one of her favorite movies, "The Wizard of Oz". She has always believed that Billie Burke is simply beautiful in the role of Glenda!

They spent Halloween evening in Amarillo at the Lovett yearly spooky blowout. This year, our former temple president, Scott Hendricks, provided a pony cart which the kids just loved. The theme of the party was "Return". Every year is themed, but this year was extra difficult. The "return" theme was because Pegi and Todd's youngest son just returned from his mission. I had planned to enlarge an image off of the web and get it transferred to a black t-shirt and go as Barak Obama's income tax return. Pegi wore a Minnie Mouse costume for "Minnie happy returns". Todd..."Return of the Jedi". Reed and Fleur did not participate! (no comment)

The Bacons spent the evening handing out candy and awaiting Josh and the other "monkey brothers", his buddies, return from trick or treating. I don't know how long they are going to be able to pull this off. They can't understand why all of the neighbors aren't excited to receive teenage spooks at their doors. So far they are pulling it off. They will do anything for candy but they draw the line at picture taking and making a big deal out of their improvised costumes. If I had been home, there would be pictures of them, also. Matt popped popcorn at the movie for those grinchy souls who chose to attend a movie Halloween night instead of decorating their homes and handing out candy to the little visiting beggers.

I spent Halloween serving in the temple. It was our first week with our new temple presidency. I think this is the first Halloween I have ever missed. But, it was a wonderful way to spend the evening. I didn't miss a thing.