Lisa's Lines
That moment when your 4-year-old trick-or-treater peers into your neighbor’s window, spots someone on the couch, and hollers, “I know you’re in there!” and starts knocking on the window…
My family is still new to our neighborhood, so Halloween 2016 served as a meet and greet for us. And, thanks to our feisty little redhead, we’re likely to be remembered.
With Halloween on a Monday, there was a rush to get home from work, a dash to make and eat dinner, and then, a quick donning of costumes. Of course, our 4-year-old spider witch, Ellen, lost a wing and our 7-year-old zebra, Anna, was missing her tail the moment we were ready to head out the door. (Fortunately, mom located both items in one mad dash through the house.)
Then, there was a little skirmish in the garage between daddy and the 4-year-old over whether or not a dolly is allowed to go trick-or-treating. Daddy didn’t want to end up carrying the doll all night, and the spirited child had her own plans of scoring bonus candy with her doll in tow. In the end, mommy settled it by laying down the law of: Moms and dads do not carry dolls while trick-or-treating. So, our independent little lady tossed her doll (and her doll’s candy bag) into her dolly stroller and rolled her out of the garage and down the street.
As we walked to the first house, John and I reminded our kids to smile, remember their “pleases” and “thank yous,” and politely state their names if the treat-givers ask.
Our first stop went pretty well. Anna and Ellen were bouncing with excitement while they waited for our neighbor, Gary, to answer the door. “Trick or treat!” they yelled and held out their plastic pumpkin buckets. Gary and his wife, Rita, commented on both the girls’ costumes, handed out goodies, and the adults exchanged friendly chit-chat (much to Ellen’s dismay). Our little spider witch tried to be patient, but her frustration bubbled over…
“Mommy! Stop talking! Lisa (her doll) didn’t get candy yet!” she spouted, sticking her doll’s candy bucket out for Gary to see.
I began to correct her rudeness, but Gary ever-so-kindly laughed and complied with Ellen’s demand. He then tried to engage Ellen in conversation about her doll….
“We’re not here to talk!” Ellen sternly stated, while turning her dolly stroller around and making her way down the driveway with her zebra sister skipping behind her.
“Girls!” John yelled, reminding them of their manners. “What do you tell Gary and Rita?”
From the end of the driveway both yelled, “THANK YOU!”
Our gracious neighbors laughed and told us to enjoy the night with our little ones.
John and I reviewed trick-or-treat etiquette with our children on the way to house #2.
Things went better. Ellen’s dolly received a special little treat without Ellen having to ask. However, there was one little, not-so-flattering comment made by a certain little redhead about the fake jack-o-lantern sitting on the front step. (Basically, only “real” jack-o-lanterns live up to her standards.) I’m pretty sure our neighbor didn’t hear it, so we quickly stated our thank yous and headed to the next house as we reiterated Thumper’s wise words of: “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”
House #3 was handing out full-size candy bars. Anna’s eyes were wide with amazement as she was told she could pick TWO from the big bowl. Ellen was also excited and quickly stashed two big bars into her pumpkin bucket. Then, she hesitated. And, I braced myself, giving her my sternest mom look.
“Can my dolly have some too?” she asked oh-so-sweetly while holding up her little Lisa doll.
“Of course!” the woman gushed, and Ellen went back into the bowl for two more big candy bars, which were strategically slid into her candy bucket.
“Wow! Thank you,” Ellen stated. “You must be really rich!”
And… on that note, we headed to the next house, which happened to be the home of the girls’ babysitter. “This is Katie’s house!” Anna happily announced. Ellen rang the doorbell and Katie’s mom came to the door bearing treats. A pleasant, “Trick or Treat” was exchanged for candy. Then, Ellen stuck her head/body inside the house. “Where’s Katie?!” she questioned/demanded. Katie’s mom kindly called the 16-year-old to the door. Katie smiled and commented on the girls’ costumes, but failed to pick up on the SPIDER portion of Ellen’s spider witch costume… “I’m a SPIDER WITCH!” Ellen yelled in exasperation before turning away from the door in utter frustration and stomping down the porch steps.
The next house was handing out candy Ellen didn’t like, which she so eloquently told them.
Then, we went to our friends’ home. Jess (the dad) was kindly instructed (by a certain short person) to put more candy in their buckets because they really “know us.” Thankfully, they do know us, and they know Ellen. Jess had a good laugh about it (and complied).
The next house was a meet-and-greet stop. After the exchange of “trick or treat” and candy, John and I introduced ourselves and struck up a conversation. Anna ever-so-patiently passed the time skipping on stones. Ellen tried to pass the time by situating her dolly in the stroller (and emptying her doll’s candy bucket into her own), but after a minute or two… she just couldn’t take it anymore. “We’re NOT here to talk!” she announced, looking our neighbor directly in the eyes. “Thank you! Goodbye!” And, she was off, pushing her dolly stroller across the lawn to the next home. Thankfully, her dramatic exit was rather humorous and our neighbors laughed it off. (And John and I had yet another conversation with our girls about manners before the next doorbell.)
The next couple stops went well. Then, we came across a questionable house. There were illuminated pumpkins by the front door, but no other lights were on. John and I discussed whether or not we should stop there, but our girls didn’t question it. There were jack-o-lanterns, which meant candy. So, we climbed up the steep front steps with the girls and Ellen’s doll/dolly stroller in tow. Anna rang the door bell and we waited… Then, Ellen rang the doorbell and we waited… John suggested we go to the next house, but Ellen was already smooshing her face up to the glass sidelight.
“I see someone!” she happily informed us before knocking on the window and yelling, “I SEE YOU! I KNOW YOU’RE IN THERE!”
I wanted to hide.
John quickly grabbed our little spider witch (whose purple shoes flailed in mid-air in protest) and herded our zebra away from the door. But, we couldn’t get away fast enough. A woman answered the door. It was too dark to read her expression.
John freed the spider witch and both girls ran back to the door.
“Trick or Treat!” the girls said. And, fortunately, the woman smiled and doled out a few treats. We thanked her, but chose not to introduce ourselves.
After that, we stuck to only houses of family members / good friends.
It was a fun, memorable night. Our girls scored big on candy. Of course, Ellen’s pile of loot was a bit larger than her sister’s.
“See, Anna, next year, you should bring your doll, too,” Ellen wisely suggested after eyeing up the two candy piles.
