Halloweening

Feels kind of naked to not have a picture to go with this, but I'll do my best anyway. Two days before Halloween we got a notice in the letterbox that the kids on the street were planning on trick or treating, and we were welcome to come along, or have treats ready if we wished. We very quickly decided to join in. There are only four families with children in our street, and I suppose 10 or 15 with elderly people (and one with a young childless couple). We know the other kids well enough but this was a nice opportunity to get to know their parents too. Bethany and Hannah dressed as fairies (is that a surprise?) and Ryan was a ghost, with a sheet sacrificed to the cause at the last moment. It was a very good idea to give the neighbours advance notice, as they all had little goodie bags ready for the kids (or hid when they saw us coming). It was lovely to get a chance to have a little chat with them all.
I do feel sorry for the one guy who lives directly across from us who hadn't got the notification - the boys put it in the front door and they only use the back so hadn't seen it. He is Canadian and so couldn't let Halloween pass un-treated. Fortunately we have a deli on the corner of the street just perfect for this purpose, so he told the kids to come back later and quickly snuck to the deli while they were at the house next door, returning laden with goodies (and many dollars lighter I suspect). It was a lovely warm evening, daylight saving had just started, so after we collected all the treats, we sat on a neighbour's lawn and the kids ate and checked out the hauls while the mums chatted. Somehow I suspect we've created a tradition. Very nice one too.
Ryan, ever the pessimist, when we were talking about it later, was sad - 'there were three houses where no-one was home, we could have got more lollies'. What a fab attitude, sigh.