October was a busy month with quite the ghoulish end. Not because anything hauntingly bad happened but just because, you know – Halloween – it happens every October. When it comes to Halloween, I share the same sentiments as my dad… Halloween has to be the worst “holiday” of the year… gimme gimmie, free candy… but everyone else here in our house takes a little more lighthearted and reasonable approach to it.

The new neighborhood is quite the neighborhood for decorations we learned. I feel a little odd about posting a picture of the neighbor’s house so I’ll skip it and give you a quick verbal rundown of the highlights: skeletons galore, headless mannequins, an eight foot tall grim reaper, a few severed heads, a cemetery, a couple of creepy clowns, a werewolf, Chucky, Pennywise, Michael Myers, digital blood that drips down the garage door… they’re the king-sized candy bar house and you get a soda too! Not to be outdone… we carved two pumpkins.

And by “we,” I really mean Sophia and Will. Meredith may have helped flick a few seeds off the deck but I have to give credit where credit is due. The kids did a fairly good job and even I was impressed with their freestyle creations.

Overall, the night was enjoyable. The trend of over-the-top decorated homes persisted throughout the neighborhood. The kids had fun being minimally supervised and raking in more candy than they can eat in a year while Mom and Dad got in a long walk, a nice conversation, and maybe a tasty beverage. With that “holiday” in the rear view mirror though, the whole house is excited for the next wave of holidays and the family gatherings that come with it!