Free Candy!

"Free candy! If you want some candy, come over here!" This is what Sarah kept calling out last night to all the trick-or-treaters! The girls had a ball handing out candy and seeing all the fun costumes last night. Every year, on Halloween, we open up our garage door and take advantage of an opportunity to serve and meet some of our neighbors. We have hot apple cider for the parents and candy for the kids. The girls absolutely love giving the candy away, especially Sarah this year. They did go to a few houses in the neighborhood to do their own trick-or-treating, but Sarah was much more concerned with missing the people that came to our house! We even had one neighbor say, "Is this the house that always has apple cider? We love coming here!" She let her little boy use our bathroom, too. I think that shows a level of trust we've built by being consistent each year. I was thinking last night about what a wonderful opportunity Halloween is for community. Everyone's out, walking around and talking to each other. We've met several neighbors this way. I have had my reservations about celebrating Halloween, but the girls have a great time dressing up and we just love being outside and being a part of our community! We did have to remind the girls several times that much of it is pretend-especially at the neighbor's house that scared even the parents! Carolyn had many moments of being scared in stores these past few weeks due to all the scary costumes and masks. I want them to know it's pretend, but I also don't want them to become immune to the darkness part and just overlook it. Barrett was there, too, but more like a fly on the wall just hanging out in his car. He did have a "Soccer Champion" outfit on; taking after his pops!