The Creepover

The first to arrive - a fairy, a monkey, a pirate, Little Dead Riding Hood, and Harry Potter.

I must say that Halloween is NOT my favorite holiday. I don't like to be scared, I don't like messy spiderweb decorations, I don't like a bunch of candy in my house . . . But I DO love our grandchildren, and our 'Creepover' is an excuse to have a lot of fun together. You might wonder how our 'Creepover' got started. What I've noticed is . . . if you have a fun party, the expectations are high that you will have it again next year and VOILA! a major tradition has begun!!!

We had the traditional witches brew, and candy in the leaf pile. Actually, there were two leaf piles - one for the older kids and one for the younger ones. Rosalie found one piece of candy and immediately sat down and started to eat it. Meredith found two pieces and gave one to Andrew and one to Rosalie. Yes, the smaller leaf pile was the kinder, gentler leaf pile.

After getting their 'glow' necklaces, they all went on a walk with their Grandpa. What was lurking about in the dark of night? A moving shadow - a creature with glowing eyes!! SCREAMS of terror!!! (Rex was the perfect lurker)

Everyone was glad to get home to play Halloween Bingo. We had beans to mark the bingo cards. In the middle of the game I heard a faint "These are yucky" Rosalie had chewed on a few beans before she realized they weren't candy. Grandpa raced to the rescue and caught the pieces as they were spewed forth.

Then beds were made on the family room floor, and we all snuggled in to watch our traditional "Blackbeard's Ghost"

This year, my favorite part of the Creepover was in the morning. After our cheese pancake breakfast some of the kids went outside to see if there was any candy they may have missed the night before. (they found 7) Andrew came back into the house with a fistful of carrots from the garden. He loves Grandpa's garden carrots!

As we washed them, he glanced outside at his cousins and said "Grandma, I can't believe they're looking for candy when they could just go pull up some carrots."

Later that day, Grandpa came home and was kicking around in the leaves hoping, as in years past, to find an unclaimed Snickers or Baby Ruth. None to be found. I told him "Just go pull up some carrots"

Halloween Night