The Reason I Love Autumn

Last night was Halloween, and I'm sure we'll be posting some pictures soon. We met up with the Bauman's for a night of Halloween fun. As we walked up and down the streets watching the kids ring doorbells and take the resulting candy, two things of note occurred to me.

First, I realized why my dad would always be ready to go home so much sooner than I was as a kid. I would just be getting warmed up when he would inform me that it was time to call it a night. All my friends who went without parental supervision would come to school the next day boasting of their mountainous candy haul, with stories of their journeys to far-off magical neighborhoods where every house was giving away "full-sized" candy bars. But me and my brothers and Dad would be done after a quick trip around the block. Our Trick-or-Treat success was totally dependent on how many houses were occupied and participating in the festivities, because the number of houses on our block never changed. But I finally empathize with my dad. It's not nearly as much fun when you're not the one running around in anticipation of the sweet rewards of your work. And, it's usually cold.

The second thing that made me think was, where were all of the kids? I remember Trick-or-Treating and rarely would we ever be at the door by ourselves. Kids used to be all over the street. Not so much these days. I really had the feeling last night that by the time we have kids old enough to enjoy Trick-or-Treating that it would be a dead tradition, no longer practiced, replaced by the organized community or church Trick-or-Treat substitute at some activity referred to as a Fall Festival, Orange & Black Carnival or some other vanilla attempt at political correctness. What happened to us? When did we lose hold of our society so much that only the "crazies" let their kids go Trick-or-Treating in their own neighborhoods? Every year the number or kids decreases, which deters families from passing out candy the next year, which makes it harder for the traditional stalwarts to go, which discourages them and their parents, which decreases the number of kids, which deters families from passing... You get the idea.

Our Halloween Dinner was awesome. We had three kinds of soups. Brookie and I brought two, Cream of Pumpkin and Chicken Enchilada, and Julie Bauman made a Creamed Cauliflower soup. We also made a two-pound loaf of French bread for dinner. Soups are one of the main reasons I love autumn. I think I could eat soup about as much as I could eat pizza. Pizza, soup, and cold breakfast cereal and I'm set. Throw in some Bauman BBQ and I'm in heaven. Any how, I've posted three of our favorite soup recipes on this blog, and I suggest you give them a try. Besides tasting so good, it's also nice to have the leftovers to heat up for lunches during the rest of the week. If you're interested, just search this blog for soup, and you should be able to find my recipes for the Cream of Pumpkin we did last night, as well as the Tomato Basil soup, and Caldo Verde, Brooke's favorite.

This picture is us with the Bauman kids. Amelia, the oldest, was Hanna Montana, but she wasn't wearing the wig in this shot. Jacob was the best Peter Pan ever, and Elizabeth was Tinkerbell. We joked about putting a little pouch of glitter on the outside of her diaper so she could sprinkle fairy dust on people, but it didn't go any further than that.