It’s All Hallows’ Eve once again, which means taking little ones around the neighborhood for a giant sugar binge right before bedtime. (Whose idea was this?!) Hannah started the evening off by painting the pumpkin she picked out herself at Union Orchard and placing it out on the front stoop for all her fellow Halloweeners to see. Then she put on her Cinderella gown one more time so mom and dad could take her on a chilly evening walk to get candy from the neighbors. While we were out, a team of horses from Barebacks & Bells came riding up the street, with young ladies trick-or-treating on horseback. Welcome to Nebraska, everybody.

This was little Aaron’s first Halloween, but he’s too little for trick-or-treating or candy. We did, however, stop by my parents’ house so he and his sister could say hello in costume. (Aaron’s a giraffe, this year, Vivian says. A giraffe!)

After the kids were tucked in bed, Vivian and I got to have some Halloweening of our own down at the Eagles’ Lodge dressed as Professor Wagstaff and a Crime Scene (with Grammy and Pop-Pop watching the house). We don’t go out dancing nearly as often as we used to, so it felt good to be back in the “swing” of things once again. We had a few special visitors in attendance as well — Jessica Ritchie dropped in from North Carolina, Keith was also back from his sabbatical in Utah, and Sarah Epperly Hood came by after many, many years of hiatus.

The usual gang of Lindy Hopping ghouls were there as well, and we had a costume contest halfway through the evening where everyone could show off their duds to Beauty and the Beast on stage. We had a sham-sham as usual, and a round of Thriller shortly thereafter led by the ever-enthusiastic Takashi. He also had his moment in the spotlight doing some karaoke to Mack the Knife. That made our evening quite complete.

Halloween didn’t end with the end of October, however. On Saturday night, Merinda threw her annual Halloween Party at her place in mid-town, so Vivian and I donned our costumes again and headed up for another round of dressing up and dancing with our cluster of mutual friends. We took a couple swings at a skull-shaped pinata and opened up the dance floor for Lindy Hopping to songs such as The Monster Mash and Ghostbusters. One of my Groucho eyebrows came off, but I immediately found a use for it as way to complete Ben Peet’s Charlie Chaplin costume. We also played a little bowler frisbee before Eric started stripping. At that point, we decided to call it a night.

Happy Halloween, everybody! Next stop — Thanksgiving.