  OK, I know it's overdue. Everybody wants to know the wrap-up on Halloween. I've been asked how the kids did, how I handled the candy thing, so give the public what the public wants! First, you have to know that the reason I'm only just getting to the wrap-up is because I'm only just catching my breath! It was so hard! Just as I learned the hard way urlLink about Easter eggs , I've learned the hard way about Trick-or-Treating, too.
At least, my neighbors did. I just want to say this in defense of the Bazins. What a wonderful thing it was in this age of parents checking candy that Danny Bazin baked chocolate swirl cakes to hand out, knowing that parents who knew and trusted her would be coming to the door. They were fantastic, too. I ate Aidan's and Ella's. Mathilde had hers early, though, because I quickly unwrapped it and shoved it in her mouth so that getting swarmed by the fireants at the Bazin's gate wouldn't give her a lifelong complex about Halloween. So, the first lesson to mark in the book for Halloween rookies is to check your steps outside your door for fireant piles before the little ones show up.
This all happened after the school Halloween carnival, which I greatly underestimated. When forming my expectations, I must have thought of school parties like I had at Tucumcari's modest public schools as I was growing up. I thought of parents sitting uncomfortably in little chairs watching the kids run wild under fluorescent lights. I thought of orange punch and candycorns, sticky in the bowel from little kids' sweaty hands. I thought wrong. My first realization of this was when, upon driving up fashionably late, I could not find a parking spot. The entire lot and every street around was packed. We parked four or five blocks down and walked passed a myriad of BMWs and Mercedes. The second realization was when I heard good music on quality speakers coming from behind the main building.
We walked around to find a gigantic yard area beautifully decorated with artsy strings of lights hanging from the abundant ancient oak trees. Before walking out of the house, I jokingly asked John if there would be drinks and John said, honey we don't send our kids to that nice of a school. We laughed, but the joke was on us. The final realization was the keg and table of decent wine magnums freely flowing. The wild thing was how the kids seemed sort of subdued by the havoc. They must have been screaming as they played and ran, but the music tuned them out. The networking parents worked the yard, and I could only laugh because they all looked so serious.
I found one of Aidan's friend's parents and made small talk. Soon a few other parents who weren't ambitious enough to build their business connections also stood with us. I tried my best to be funny and light, but they looked at the freakishly young mom and only politely laughed. Someone was talking about potty training and I told them my theory on how it's a great drinking game for parents, I guess it has just been too many years since they thought about drinking games. My parents were there, they took a ton of pictures with the kids as all this was going on. When we left I really enjoyed their comments. They said they don't go to parties like that in El Paso! They also thought it was funny that all the parents there were their age.
Because I desired to look good at the party, and because I can fit into my black cigarette pants again, I wore my black boots, with a smart square toe and high heels, but now I can tell you that the second lesson to mark down in the rooky handbook for Trick or Treating is to wear comfortable shoes. My feet still hurt. After Trick or Treating, a neighbor held an After Party, complete with a moonwalk. I guess I didn't understand what time most people do these things. It gets dark these days around 5:30, the school party went from 5-7. We left early to get to Trick-or-Treating. We finished by 7 and showed up at the After Party embarrassingly early around 7:30. As the host let us in I asked what time it was, and when he told me 7:30 I was floored. I was tired enough from dragging the toddler door to door with the baby on my hip, that I felt it was 10! Apparently, the After Party turned into a roaring good time well attended by the whole neighborhood, but we left long before that point.
We put the kiddos and husbands to bed and mom and I alone stayed up late watching Tu Wong Fu because I don't like scary movies anymore. So, the last issue: the candy. Aidan's teacher made special treats for everyone in her class and Aidan's bag alone contained apples instead of candy (didn't I tell you she's fantastic!). This was really the only time all night that he saw other kids eating what they got, and he got the impression--and we did nothing to correct him--that the holiday was about getting surprises and dressing up rather than eating candy. I did let him have a piece or two of his candy, and my parents were good not to push more on him. We're giving the rest away to his amazing teachers. 
