Heard at a neighbor’s door tonight: “Oh, we have a pirate, a volleyball player … and, who is this cute little S.W.A.T man?
“Halloweenie,” responds the little guy.
“Well, are you a police man?”
“No … I’m Halloweenie.” he confidently replies.


I don’t think it would have mattered what costume. He wanted to be knows as Halloweenie. His siblings and I thought this S.W.A.T. suit was perfect for an F.H.A (Future Hoarder of America). Plenty of compartments to store his goods.

In addition to Halloweenie, we had a pirate a volleyball player and two that dressed up by not dressing up. They went as themselves.You might notice the slightly lame costume ensembles. Thanks to our dad, Frugal Frank (related to Safety Sam), we get to put together home-made versions of popular costumes. We did purchase a last-minute sale item at Walgreens involving a pirate eye patch, sword and fake hook hand. But other than that we were digging far to find something to wear. This approach led to a 30 minute walk-through the girls closet – trying hard to “create” something worthy of trick-or-treating with friends. Needless to say, after much imploring and encouraging, they came up with some great stuff.


“But a pirate doesn’t wear a cape.”
“Oh, this is for sure a “pirate” cape.”
“Maawwwmmm!”
“You look great! … Now here’s your hat.”
“That’s not a pirate hat.”
No need to point out the our pirate’s hat is the same one used on Colonial Day at school. That day, I did my darnedest to convince the kid it was the perfect Revolutionary hat – NOT a pirate hat (See April 15th’s Death By Lunch Bag). Tonight, I sung a different tune. “It’s a pirate hat… A perfectly fine pirate hat.” You do what you got to do.

Halloweenie was ready to hit the road around 4.

We had a few false starts.

“Arrrgh … I’ll stop the Halloweenie.”

It’s always good to have a pirate around.

The first Trick-or-Treaters to visit our house came around 6:30.

They waited and waited for someone to answer the door…

We had to go back in since Frugal Frank was enthralled in Sunday sports.

… Wait – Where’s Halloweenie?!

Oh… He decided to join the group when they left our house.

Turn your head for a second, and the kid was making his way down the block, adding himself to the group of very nice strangers, wondering who the cute kid was that joined them.

We grabbed the kid and started our candy-gathering trek.

Along the way we saw….

Some local baseball fans (Go Rangers!),

Some super cute 6th graders

(one of which pretended not to know her mother),

incredibly welcoming homes, and a

plaque found at one of the houses that said it all.

The secret to life, so simply displayed in words,

so beautifully played out in the opening of doors and distribution of goodies.

Happy Halloweenie.

For all the bad and negative stuff surrounding this strange holiday, there is one very positive aspect. People opening their doors. People greeting their neighbors. People getting outside of themselves and giving treats away. People talking to each other, laughing, complimenting (“ooohhh … Look at how creative you were.”, “My what a beautiful princess,” “A pirate with a cape – so unique!”, …) For a holiday centered on the creepy (something we avoid like the plague), I sure enjoyed stepping back for a moment and relishing in the words of that engraving. “Love Your Neighbor as Yourself,” – the beautiful words of Truth from the One who knows. Then watching most (not all) do just that.

Thanks to our little SWAT guy for letting us tag along
…and thanks to you for walking the road with me.

-Kay

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