28 Days of Thankfulness - Day 1 - Giggling

I am taking on the 28 days of thankfulness challenge. Since it is my blog,  I can decide when the 28 days starts and ends - LOL!

 

Day #1: I am thankful for giggling.  Specifically, giggling children. 

 

Halloween is kind of a weird day for me.  I've talked about my friend Amy in the past on this blog.  She passed away on October 25, 1993.  It was entirely unexpected and no one was prepared. Her funeral was a week later on Halloween, and her burial was the following day, All Saints Day.  It was a very strange realization that this year marked the twentieth anniversary of the death of a person who had only been alive nineteen years.  I vividly remember being at her parents' house in Attleboro the night of her funeral and talking with her devasted fiancee.  I thought for sure, Halloween would never be the same again.

 

Then I had Nick.  From the time of his second Halloween, it was clearly a holiday that he loved.  I don't think he's had a single one where he hasn't dressed up.  While I still felt sad on Halloween, I put on a brave face for him and did my best to make each and every one special in some way.

 

Halloween 2010 was probably one of my favorites.  My nephews and niece were at our house as were Bernie's parents.  It was Jack's second Halloween.  My sister and I took him trick or treating with his cousins, while Nick stayed home to hand out candy.  When we got back, we realized that Nick and Bernie's dad had been scaring all of the neighborhood kids and were really enjoying themselves. They made a great team.  Ed, looking innocent, would lure the trick or treaters to the door step with candy, and then Nick would jump out of the shadows. There was a lot of screaming going on. That year for Ed's birthday, we got him a zombie costume.





Halloween 2010

As most of you know, once the Yankees were out of the playoffs, we started rooting for the Red Sox in Ed's honor.  The Red Sox won the World Series this year on October 30th.  The ending of the pennant race felt like just another way in which we had to let go.  I was worried that this Halloween was going to be really hard. I was bummed when I realized that Nick's after school activities were going forward and he would miss most of the Halloween activities with the family.

 

Our neighborhood was built in the 1950s and the houses are close together. This makes it the perfect place to go trick or treating.  Our friends Debbi and Reggie live around the corner.  Debbi loves to bake and Halloween is no exception.  Every year she goes all out and the number of people gathering increases.  We all met there for dinner and dessert to commence our trick or treat outing.

 

Part of the spread at Debbi's



 

This year the weather was perfect.  The rain and wind that was forecasted held off and the temperatures were in the 60s.  The fact that it was unseasonably warm meant that the kids could wear their costumes without having to worry about coats. We were due for good Halloween weather.  In 2011, we had a freak snow storm, and in 2012, storm Sandy hit right before the holiday.  In both cases we were dealing with downed wires and widespread power outages. It was nice to not have to worry about any of that this time around.

We tried to get a picture of all the kids that gathered at Debbi's, but it wasn't easy.  I think we are missing a couple of them form each shot we took.

Jack and Bridgette's son, Christopher (aka"Batman") had a great time trick or treating togther. Reggie dressed up as Robin and accompanied them to many houses.

I was amazed by how much Vivian enjoyed trick or treating.  She would run up the doors following in Jack and Christopher's footsteps. She would hold her hand out for candy, say thank you, and run back to Bernie so she could put her loot in the pumpkin he was holding.  When she started to get tired, I tried to hold her back.  That didn't really work.  She was determined that if Jack was going to do it, then she would not be left behind. No matter the obstacles (big steps, longer driveways), she kept going.  She would beam with pride when people complimented her on her costume.

You know she is working hard when her tongue is hanging out.

The boys would laugh as they would run.  Vivi would giggle as she followed them and when she would return to put candy in her bucket.  We had a great time and all of the laughter helped us stay focused on the kids and not on all of the other things I associate with Halloween.  That is why I am thankful for giggles.

Thank you also to Debbi for all of her work in putting this together.  Halloween definitely would not have been as magical for the kids without her.