Ghost decor and the best part about Halloween...

John's mom always surprises us with one of her hand painted Halloween goodies

sparkly stars hang from the front window at the Spruces

We are immersed in the Halloween fun October brings every year. I am so happy to report that Halloween falls on a Saturday this year-and that my kids are out of school ALL DAY FRIDAY. So we will do a little pumpkin shopping and carving on Friday and the kids will go crazy decorating the outside of the house (they say I'm so boring, cause all I do is decorate inside).

I've never been a fan of Halloween, its expensive when you add up costumes for 6, and most of the time it is just a big round of unment expectations. Someone's costume doesn't turn out quite right, someone else doesn't get to trick or treat as long as they'd like, and yada yada yada. I"m all for imaginary play, and dress ups too. We have a huge boat load of dress ups downstairs for the kids to become pirates and princesses every day of the year-but this one day of dress up perfection is a little bit of a creative overload for this busy parent.

This year the kids costumes came together fairly well. We still have to assemble our jelly-fish made from an umbrella for Madi, but otherwise we are pretty much there with the Halloween garb. And with a day in between the School parades and parties and the trick-or-treating I may even find that the sugar induced hysteria is ebbed just a bit. And that might leave room for the one WONDERFUL thing this holiday brings-

The best, most wonderful, most redeeming thing about Halloween? We see our neighbors. ALL the neighbors. They come to the door tricking and treating, we meet parents and children, we see families out together. I love the way the neighborhood is alive for the few hallowed hours of all hallows eve. And this year, I think it will be extra nice to see the families come out of their houses and onto our doorstep. We'll pull out the firepit and keep the homefires burning in the driveway for any who want to stop for an extra minute of warmth by the fire. I'll keep stuff out for s'mores, and hot chocolate at the ready. Heck, I may even invite some neighbors over for soup before the kids go out to beg candy from the community...yep, that is the thing that I love about Halloween. The neighborhood is like a neighborhood for just a little while.

Hope your fright night is full of community, of greetings from neighbors as you pass them in the dark, the chance to meet someone who lives near by but doesn't frequent your daily patterns.