We had no trick-or treaters, but our house is kind of set back from the street, and while our porch light is working, the light closer to the street needs a new bulb, so we probably looked not home.

In previous years Annabel was overwhelmed by trick-or-treating and always wanted to go home after just the immediate neighbors' houses, but tonight we went all the way around the block, with her declaring, "I want to go to another house," each time we were walking away. She used her pirate sword to knock on doors. It was extremely cute.

Once I got her home, I had to run straight to choir practice, where we started work on Advent music. Trick or treating to "Comfort, Comfort Ye My People" and "Of the Father's Love Begotten" with no segue is a bit...jarring.

Phew! Kids were a handful today, but they had lots of fun. Isaac quickly nixed his eyepatch, but wore his bandana for the whole night so I consider that a win. Need to have pics of all three pirates tonight, I'm guessing they were all adorable. Franny was Sleeping Beauty, with a wicked sugar high of course. Almost all the candy and trick or treaters were gone by 8:30.

We are getting some sushi and detoxing right now. AIwillbeFG, just as soon as DH gets here with the sushi.

I have so much work to do. Must. Repress.

Kat, if you are at UCLA tomorrow, want to get together? Or are you BZ?

Oh, and speaking of, "Just which holiday season is this?" the bus driver on the way home was in costume...as Santa Claus. I chose to interpret as an ironic comment on the way Christmas commercialization extends earlier and earlier each year.

(Our choir has an excuse--we have a big service the first Sunday in Advent and a lot of music to learn. And it's not like we went out caroling or anything.)

There will be pirate pictures as soon as DH uploads them.

I ended up wearing Annabel's tricorn hat for most of the outing. I tried to get her to keep it on, as IMHO it made the outfit, but she's always been a hat hater.

Halloween success. Emmett was also a pirate, but his costume has gotten rather elaborate over the years since JZ has all the RenFaire connections and fancy hats and Actual Pirate Shirts and whatnot.

Matilda was in her pumpkin getup and she was totally digging the hubbub (bub) and the lights and the costumes and the kids jumping around. I think she's going to be a social girl. She seems to like people. And when we spotted a little bitty new baby she had to lean in and check them out in their stroller and then she'd get a huge smile.

How cool is my neighborhood? Around the corner, they closed down the block from 12pm to 9pm and about half the houses were various Harry Potter locales. The best house was Umbridge's office with all the cat plates (on the garage) and the owner was dressed up in front and sitting at a desk with a big quill. Among others, there was a Leaky Cauldron, Ministry of Magic phonebooth, Curtained Archway, Grimmauld Place, and cutouts of Quiddich players strung up across the street as if they were flying. There were milemarkers signposts pointing to all the sites and the one for Divination pointed all the way around the corner. Apparently they have been doing this for a few years.

I now see why our neighborhood gets so many trick or treaters. We went through a few bowls of candy so I think we must have had over 200 kids. We offered "chocolate" and "no chocolate" bowls. To my surprise, "no chocolate" was way more popular.

Joss is returning to TV: [link]

With Tim and Eliza.

But I'm sad for all the kids who didn't have what I had: followed patiently by our parents in the dark as we raced from one neighbor to the next, showing off, feeling like we were illicit and scary in our tweety bird costumes.

When I was a kid our parents just turned us loose in costumes without adult supervision from the age of 7 or 8. That allowed a great combo of trick-or-treating fun with other kids and the thrill of getting scared without Mom or Dad right there to reassure us. I feel sad that modern parents are so protective their kids never really get that scary rush of adrenaline from Halloween.

Skipping to post that, according to the Buffista Calendar, today is Ginger's birthday.

Happy birthday, Ginger! With lots of wishes for a great day and a wonderful year!

Happy Birthday, Ginger!!