Halloween - Is it Over?

Halloween is never one of my favorite holidays, but this year was a little different.  We live next door to a wonderful family, mom, dad, two boys, and a little girl.  The boys come to visit on occasion, carrying on almost adult conversations.  This year, their garden yielded some large pumpkins - the largest being the oldest boy's Jack-o-lantern, the next in size going to the next son, and then came our surprise - they came to our house, excitedly bearing this Jack-o-lantern, complete with flickering light inside that could be turned off and on.  We felt honored, and after the traditional Trunk or Treat in our neighborhood, they came to see us to show off the costumes.  Halloween can be fun.
I do need to explain my own frustrations with Halloween.  My children always wanted costumes, and, since extra money was nonexistant,  weren't very amenable to my suggestions of either going as a ghost (old sheets with holes cut in appropriate places), or a hobo, which definitely hit a brick wall as a suggestion.  Candy was expensive, and not as conveniently packaged as our choices today.  One Halloween that we did enjoy was one when we lived in the old family home in the early 70's.  Our neighbors invited the children over for doughnuts and cider - that was much easier and healthier than the town trick or treating that they did later.  Besides my own children eating too much candy, I also remember when I was teaching in the primary grades (1, 2), when we literally had to scrape children off of the ceiling because of the candy high.  I never planned on doing too much at school if the day after Halloween came on a school day.
     Halloween never got much attention when we were children.  Some boys would go around trying to tip over outhouses, but since our FHA special had a concrete base, it was too daunting.  My first year of teaching school in Riverton gave me the experience of having to organize a Halloween party at school (yes, we did lots of school parties in those days), and then having the second graders join in the school's parade in full costume downtown on a sunny, golden afternoon.  There are advantages to being in a retirement mode!  Our only role now is answering the doorbell with a bowl full of Snickers.  Little kids early, older kids later, and we're done!  The Jack o-lantern is preserved in my picture files, and life goes on.