Halloween in AK

Halloween is always a weird holiday for those of us without children, because it can be a toss up as to when it happens. For example, Oxford's trick-or-treat is scheduled for a convenient 5-7 timeslot on a weekday. This is always on a different day of the week every year, so the only way to know when to be ready is (1) ask a kid and (2) keep a bowl of candy ready a week beforehand for the onslaught.

On our street, we have many children, but the only ones I see outside lately are our dear "Children of the Corn" -- boys here appear to have been shipped directly from the early 70s with long messy hair. They skateboard on a makeshift ramp in the middle of the street, and have recently moved down the street in order to be closer to the girls, who hang around at various houses on Alderwood.

On Sunday, since we had no trick or treaters yet, I thought we had probably missed the night. To add to the drama, we got about two inches of cold, "not going anywhere", snow and the weather was a bit cold (19 degress or so). Yet, all the sudden we started to get trick or treaters of all sizes -- all bundled in these big coats (my favorite was the princess in the pink 150$ North Face Denali jacket), with parents driving them down the street. SUV's and AWD Minivans were bumper to bumper along our snow-covered cul-de-sac. It was pretty funny.

So, yes, even in AK, Halloween occurs -- and it appears here to actually happen on the day of the holiday ;).

P.S. Today I shoveled three inches of snow off of our three-car garage by myself. Granted, it was really fluffy snow, but empowering nonetheless. We are supposed to expect a few more inches tomorrow!

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that this is Galileo's favorite holiday. Everyone is coming to the door to visit him, and saying things about TREATS! He would wait patiently on the stairs for the trick or treaters, then sit waiting for his treat at the door. Even today, when the "get out the vote" people came by, Galileo sat patiently by the door waiting for a treat :)