Last night we dressed the kiddos up (a princess, a purple dragon and a cow) and enjoyed trick-or-treating, passing out candy, and eating dinner together with our small group across the street.
I was surprised by how few houses in our neighborhood pass out candy, and how dark and intimidating most homes here are at night. It was sad to see Mercy, Aaron and little Elena run so excitedly up to a building, knock or ring the bell and repeat their sing-song “trick or treat” endlessly, hoping for a security door to open. I suppose the reality is I am glad to not have an enormous bag of candy to administer now.
It seemed fairly quiet in general in the neighborhood. I think that most people leave our neighborhood for the bigger events in other parts of the city, and so there was an odd hush about our streets. When I got up around 1:30am to feed Elijah, I did hear one long and steady stream of gunfire followed by sirens but that was the only fearful or threatening moment.
i can relate to this a bit in the sense that i have lived in or nr places where people, esp the elderly, are very reluctant to open their doors, esp on halloween, where they feel more vunerable.
your kids are TOOOOOOOO cute.
Julia,
You must have seen the pics 🙂 They were adorable!
Paul,
I know how I feel about opening my door sometimes, especially at night or when I am home alone. It’s just sad to realize that here, that is just the way we live together and our kids grow up learning that at such a tender age,
If it’s any comfort, this phenomenon is definitely not unique to your neighborhood. The same holds true in exclusive neighborhoods I know. To find the point of contrast, you have to go back in time.
Jennifer,
I think you are probably right…though I know the way I remember it being does still exist, as described by another blogging mom I love to read!
http://llamamomma.blogspot.com/2007/11/dont-forget-to-glosh.html