Happy Halloween!

What? It's not Halloween anymore? Where has the time gone...

In any case, I still have Halloween to share and I forge ahead. We spent Halloween in Seattle. On our way to my parents 50th anniversary in Bellingham. I never had a Halloween growing up that didn't include rain. It rained in Seattle on Halloween this year as well.

Here is my brother all dressed up for Halloween as a wet Seattlite.

When I discovered that I would be in Seattle for the auspicious occasion, I called my nieces ans asked them if they knew any good parties to go to. They are 11 and 15. They told me the coolest thing was to go trick-or-treating with them. Since I had to be up early the next day for the anniversary party I decided an early night might be a good idea.

"Uncle Jim," they asked in unison over the speaker phone, "What are you going to wear!?"

Hmmmm, I replied, I'm not certain, but the one word that comes to mind is.... HOTPANTS!

"Noooooooo! You can't wear Hotpants! You'll freeze!"

I'll be fine, the pants, you see, are HOT!

"Uncle Jim! You're crazy!"

Crazy for HOTPANTS!!!

And so I was stuck. I now had to come up with a costume wearing hotpants, that wouldn't embarrass myself, my husband or my nieces. But it still had to be good. I began my search early and found the answer!
OK, technically not hotpants, but that is a swimsuit. Lyle decided to dress as someone who is easily annoyed by me. As I say every year, "It's not a costume if you wear it every day, it's just an outfit."

My brother's family lives in a pleasant neighborhood in Seattle that seems to have an abundance of Range Rovers, BMWs, Mercedes and Volvos in every driveway. Suffice it to say, they get a lot of trick-or-treaters. To illustrate, by the time I got there at 7, my brother's house had already run out of over 100 candy bars. To contrast, at my house in Los Angeles, we've never had one trick-or-treater in three years.

We did the walk. And walk. And walk. I guess it seemed long to me because a) I wasn't getting any candy and b) I was in hotpants. I guess it seemed long to my niece and her friends because they wore super high heels to go trick-or-treating in the rain.

Janie, Sage, Madeleine (as Rachel Zoe) Allie (as a street sign) Darlene, Nicole and Nicole.

For me, the best costume of the night were the three young guys who were dressed in prisoner stripes carrying swords with cereal boxes skewered on them. The notice on the front and back of their shirts read: Convicted Cereal Killer. I screamed and hid behind my brother. The guys ran away laughing and about two houses away I saw them stop, turn around and look at me in my GIANT CEREAL costume and say, "Oh wait a minute, I get it... HE'S CEREAL!!!"

Trade you an Almond Joy for a Sugar Daddy?