The Kid With One F is now four, which means that she's entering the actual people phase of her life. That makes little things like going trick or treating a, well, treat because now she's more than just a prop I use to extort candy from strangers. She has her own costume ideas, knows how to interact with people, and can actually walk instead of being rolled along like a big dolly.
As much fun as I find the holiday and the ritual, though, this was also the year I started noticing things while out trick or treating that make me a little sad. The're just little changes in the grand scheme of things, really, but it's enough to add a little bitterness to the 3 Musketeers I steal from the girl-spawn's Cinderella magic carriage basket after she goes to bed.
5. Halloween Doesn't Seem to Be a Community Thing Anymore: Now, we live in an apartment complex and my proposal to management that we have a sign-up sheet where people in the complex could sign up for trick or treaters to come by was shot down on insurance concerns. Luckily, there's one of those little planned communities across the street and that's where we went.
There are plenty of people that embrace Halloween, either with elaborate yard displays or just an open door. We met lots of wonderful folks, but for every house that stood wide open and welcoming was at least two more that were clearly not. I can understand if Halloween is on a Saturday or something you'd see more people not at home (Though in my childhood someone was always supposed to stay home and hand out candy even if the rest were going out), but Halloween was on a Thursday this year. That means that most folks just turned off their lights and didn't bother. It's like no one feels any obligation to be a part of the community ideal anymore, only if they "feel" like it.
4. People Are Still Pretty Racist: One thing that doesn't change much is racism, apparently. It's good that we've decided as a society to mostly stop openly advocating the inferiority of other skin colors, but that just seems to drive the sentiments underground.
It's a pretty nice little community where we went. All the houses probably cost more than both homes I lived in growing up combined. We tailed behind another group of kids who were primarily black, and so as to not swarm houses I made my daughter hang back until after they were through with their own trick or treating. I was also scouting out what goodies they were handing out in the baskets of the kids that were walking away from the door. It wasn't a majority of people by far, but there were several times I noticed my fellow Caucasians giving distinctly less candy to the black kids than my own little blond-haired Spider-Girl.
Piece continues on next page.