Hallowe'en Report

On the night of the 30th we carved pumpkins (I'd much rather eat them.) and made little ghosts out of Tootsie Pops and little squares of white cloth.

On the morning of the 31st we drove to San Francisco for brunch with some of our friends. (Justin makes a totally amazing fritata.) It was much fun, and I could have stayed at that table with my friends all day but we had plans take the boys, and our friends were taking my goddaughters, to the Hallowe'en Fair at the Randall Museum.

At the Randall the kids played games, saw shows (you need to book The Bubble Lady for your next event. She puts on a very entertaining show.), and made crafts. The boys both painted some kind of Mexican Day of the Dead skull thing, and Basil made a trick-or-treat bag.


After the Hallowe'en fair we got dim sum with Athanasia's cousin, sister and brother-in-law at Tong Kiang out in the Russian neighborhood on Geary Blvd. (I really hate They make very good food. I especially like their steamed pork buns. Usually, when I go there it is in the morning and it is totally packed. This was, I think, the first time I've been there in the afternoon. It was nice not having to wait for a table.

That night was trick or treating. They had a lot of fun. Many people commented on their costumes. At one house Anselm was mesmerized by the very beautiful woman who answered the door in a skin tight (I think it must have been PVC) and very revealing Sexy Police Woman costume. (We might skip that house next year.) At another house, as they approached the door, the thing they thought was a scarecrow screamed and lunged at them! Well, they screamed and ran away from that house as fast as they could. We only went to about 40 houses but the boys had a great time and their bags were heavy with teeth rotting agents. Then we went back to our house where Athanasia turned door duty over to me, helped the boys go through the candy, and watched Its The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown on iTunes with the boys.

This year, we did something different. In addition to handing out candy we gave kids candles to light in front of the Holy Icons. If anyone asked why all I said was, "Tonight is Hallowe'en only because tomorrow is All Saints Day." (Of course, that is only on the Western Calendar. For Orthodox All Saints Day is the Sunday after Pentecost. I'm not opposed to using the Roman Catholic and Protestant holidays for evangelism.)

Most of the kids wanted to light candles. The older kids, especially the teenagers seemed to get serious, even reverent when they lit the candles. One boy, dressed up like the killer in one of those 1980's slasher movies said after lighting his candle "That was cool." They all said "thank you". One grandmother started crying when her grand-daughters (all seemed between 5 and 10) lit candles before the Icons.