Halloween

Apart from the haunted traditions of the day, Halloween is also an occasion where I recall the countdown, as it were, to Gabriel's arrival four years ago. He was due on October 31 and, though we have dodged a lifetime of costumed birthday parties, it still prompts reminiscing and reflection as we prepare for his non-Halloween birthday party next week. Among the recollections is the regular checking in with close friends who were due around the same time. The possibility that the boys could have been delivered at the same time did not occur and Gabriel and our friends' son are actually 2 1/2 weeks apart.

After appearances as a heavily padded beaver (2013) and the Scooby Doo (2014) for his first two Halloweens, Gabriel turned himself out in a fireman costume and headed out on Halloween night full of excitement and patrolled the neighbourhood with abandon for 2 1/2 hours. There were a few houses where he was rendered timid by the more ghoulish decorations, but for the most part he dashed from door to door excited to accumulate as much candy as he could.

The acknowledgement of his fireman costume was consistent with the sardonic, "Here to put out the fire?", comments from those passing the evening by their fires with a potable of some warmth or strength able to bring a smirk of amusement to my face while Gabriel was too preoccupied with the reception part of the tradition to respond to any variations in the ritual. Those adult gatherings around a cozy fire was just one of the many differences that have indicated how Halloween has changed since my childhood. Despite the post-Tylenol caution that we have adhered to since 1982 and the consciousness about the sweets that we are ever-vigilant of, Halloween has gone off the scale for its scope.  The level of Halloween decoration continues to elevate each year and is starting to challenge Christmas. I suspect that there is a crew of factory workers somewhere in China huddled around their Saturday evening drinks puzzling over why exactly they had to make the plastic limbs that they were churning out for so many front lawns this year.

Throughout the evening we stayed at the end of the sidewalk, my eyes straying to to hockey game to get an update on the score, and prompting Gabriel to say "trick or treat," "Happy Halloween," or, most importantly, "Thank you," while he stood alone with stranger after stranger for these encounters. There were a few times where he seemed to forget what to say, but just as many where the hosts at the door called back to us, "he did," to our admonitions if we thought he forgot. He lasted much longer than we anticipated based on everything else he had done throughout the day, including a terse moment or two at his morning music class when he noticed that other kids in fireman costumes actually had a whistle as a part of their ensembles.

His night ended with a climactic moment that left him gobsmacked as a passing fire truck, having spotted him by the reflective tape on his coat, slowed down and flashed its lights while the crew waved to him.  He was truly starstruck and disoriented by the flash and wave and seemed uncertain if he was supposed to join them or not.

There are still things about the tradition for him to learn.  We did our best to teach him not to eat his candy until we got home and he has a very trusting tendency to walk right in an open door wherever he visited.  Hopefully we will break him of that habit by next year. By the time we got home, Gabriel was ready for bed. His haul included six pounds of candy and chocolate and we have not troubled ourselves to weigh the chips.  However, two days after his haul, Gabriel has not expressed any interest in or desire for the treats.