A GOOD HALLOWEEN

I am not crazy about Halloween. As a kid, I loved the candy as much as anyone, but growing up in church, eschewing evil was a definite detraction from the celebrations. But I stopped trick-or-treating, and saw the costumes increasingly become gorier over time. The era of zombies made the last memories of Halloween distasteful.
Factor in that this was this year princess pirate was at her dad's, and that he didn't even ask whether or not I would like to go. She made plans, so I planned to give out candies. Then there was a sick call at work, and instead of recovering from a night and working the next day, I was recovering and working midnight after Halloween. But after school PP had no homework. She had put together a great Sherlock Holmes outfit, and even though she didn't want to carve a pumpkin at first, I put them out and started on mine. She helped pick out the seeds from the goop, and by the time I had baked them with salt, she was almost done her memoral cat-o-lantern dedicated to Nancy Drew, using my jack-o-lantern's eyes as the inserted cats' ears. My heart was warmed.
I went to shower, and by the time I got out, I had an idea, and when I got out, PP had had one too, and had put out a couple of items. I put on a long Chinese black and red robe from a friend and PP helped me with a turban. Voilà! I was a fortune teller, and had dressed up for the first time in years to give out candy. PP came by early, and I gave her a Tüte full of candies, and then later with friends. I was alone and not lonely, and enjoyed the evening until things died down. I went to bed at 9, later then ideal for a wakeup time of 11, but it was a wholly satisfying evening with a lovely amount of time with my PP.

It wasn't a politically correct decision, but I was driving home from a night shift and only had a few minutes the day of Halloween. The most important factor, beyond what was still at the store, was how much I would like to eat if if I had leftovers. Giving out candy is a variable affair, but despite the rain, the 160 candies went fast 3 at a time, so I was giving them out two at a time by 7, and wishing I had kept more Reese's pumpkins at the end. They were delicious! 

A classic jack-o-lantern.

I have a special girl. She left me a treasure hunt. I lost track and thought I had found all her decorations. Until I woke up the next day, and went to the second bathroom. I had missed the spider hanging on the door!