Halloween, my favorite.

 Lately, I have hated my house.

I think part of it is that now that the world is starting to unfurl a little bit, we think about having people come over again. While you would think that making it through COVID without killing each other would be a sign that our house could sustain us through anything, it is the thought of having extra bodies inside that make me want to have an extra, say TWO THOUSAND square feet (not really. 1500 would be fine).

So, we have been looking and looking at houses and floor plans and lots. BUT YOU GUYS. We have lived in this house for TEN YEARS, and getting it on the market is going to take a hot second.

We officially hit pause on the house hunt, and I was simmering with disappointment and house envy. 

Until Halloween. I remembered how grateful I was out first Halloween in this house to live in a perfect little neighborhood at last. And then I thought of all of our other wonderful Halloweens-- the stuff of classic childhood dreams (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019), and I loved this little house all over again. (It was even perfect last year, even though Halloween was not a thing we really celebrated with the neighborhood).

Gratitude is wanting what you have, and I want this:

Monster pancakes for breakfast

A baby who grins

A kid who puts his costume on at 8 am

Candy AND booze

Another kid who thinks fairy hair would look just like mine

ALL OF THESE SQUISHIES

A baby so delighted by an applesauce from the house next door (her one and only trick-or-treat stop)

A teen who organized his very own Halloween party and took his little brother along to ToT sans parents, a very bog deal for a 10-year-old.

A kiddo who ToTed with her friend and her friend's mom (Ben also took a shift with them) and was nervous about her first time going with someone else's grownup

A SO DELIGHTED baby

Who danced while she ate in her big sister's wings.

The kids got SO MUCH CANDY! Especially Dorothy, who heeded our advice to stay in our immediate neighborhood where the yards are small and there are MANY HOUSES per block. For the first time ever in my adult life, I answered the door and passed out candy, and I loved it and also ate too much.

What a gift of a night.