Spooky Eats and Treats

 Trick or treating in the middle of a pandemic seems pretty sketchy to me. Malia completely agrees. And there are many other families who are on the same page we are because the neighborhood, which is normally a hubbub of children and parents roaming the streets on All Hallow’s Eve, is eerily still. Our doorbell rang exactly twice. And we ignored it because we had a sign on our door informing any visitors that we were skipping trick or treating this year.

But no trick or treating did not mean no fun. We had an afternoon household scavenger hunt that led Malia and Matthew to a treasure trove of Halloween goodies. We enjoyed a spooky themed dinner of spaghetti and eyeballs. And then we made homemade doughnuts and root beer. Matthew and Malia had never experienced homemade root beer, so it was super fun to introduce them to the tasty goodness. And becoming mad scientists by turning normal raspberry jelly doughnuts into monster doughnuts was both delicious and entertaining. The boys mostly just ate theirs, but Malia and I created a menagerie of ghastly ghouls.

Nathan had to work until 7 p.m. (costume required, of course) but made it home in time to enjoy our spooky sweets. His spaghetti and meatballs costume, a throwback to one of his elementary school favorites, won him first prize in the employee costume contest. Malia wanted to be a horse and thank goodness Amazon sells horse costumes. She wasn’t interested in any of the cute ones I could have created. She was all about the realism and I definitely did not relish the idea of trying to come up with something that would meet her exacting standards. As for Matthew, he went low key, simply creating a “this is only funny if you are a musician” t-shirt. He loves band. And he really loves jazz band.

It was different this year, that’s for sure, but I loved it. Instead of Halloween being a mad dash to get the kids to eat something healthy before begging for and subsequently eating their own body weight in candy, we were able to enjoy our victuals and enjoy each other’s company. As with all things, I know normal will return. But my youngest is 9 and since our kids stop trick or treating once they hit middle school, we only have a couple more years of roaming the streets. And then maybe I’ll have a couple more years of happy at home Halloweens before they all decide friends are more fun. I intent to take full advantage of that. Because what’s not to love about spending an evening with my kids? 😊