The spirit of giving....chocolate!

We took Benjamin trick-or-treating on Halloween and had a wonderful time. It wasn't terribly cold (unlike today) and so we were able to put enough clothes on under his costume that we didn't have to hide his cuteness with a coat. We went with some friends and their daughters around the neighborhood nearby. Boy did we load up on candy! Those families were very generous. I've never gotten so many full size candy bars in one night in my life. Can you tell I had fun too? I think I enjoyed it much more than Benjamin, obviously. In fact, as the little girls were asking to go home, I wanted to say, "Are you kidding me?! We've just started! There's a ton more houses!" Then I had to remember that I was the adult here and really shouldn't be as into this as I was! I never realized how much I missed trick-or-treating until I was back at it again. I am going to have so much fun t-or-t with Benjamin in the coming years, until he decides that it's not cool to go t-or-t with your mom, that is. Kelly asked me what it is about t-or-t that I love so much and after thinking about it, I believe it's the carefree running around with friends and getting to walk up to any house you want and meet the people inside, see what their home looks like inside, and getting to know them a bit. And they're not annoyed that your rung their doorbell, but rather, they've gone out and spent their money to buy candy in the hopes that you would come by and they want to share with you and hope that you enjoy it. It engenders such a feeling of closeness and joy that you don't get at any other time of the year, even including Christmas, because there you only visit those you know. No other holiday brings as many strangers together in a spirit of giving as does Halloween. It's a wonderful feeling. I could have gone on all night.

Here are a couple photos of the excitement:





We bought a new car recently and the woman who sold it to us was so taken by Benjamin that she bought him a toy. It has lights and music - what more could a kid want?