I'm trying to figure this out. As I recall, growing up, it was always a day to look forward to, not a season. I realize it's pointless to compare "how it was when we were kids" to how things are today, because you simply can't. Our kids get more, do more, have it easier, blah blah blah......And let's face it. It's our fault. Sometimes "yes" is so much easier to say than "no."

This year, I bought Halloween costumes for my girls early, as in mid-September, because my oldest kept reminding me "Remember what happened last time you waited too long MOM????" Yes, I remember. She couldn't dress up as her top two choices because they were out of stock "so late in the season." As I recall, I tried to place the order in the first few days of October, or even late September.

Halloween...a season? Really?

My youngest daughter lost the tail to her kitty cat costume this weekend. Yesterday, I ran by Target to pick up another one. Target is already breaking down the Halloween section and replacing it with Christmas merchandise, which was already creeping in, anyway. Funny to see reindeer and holiday wreaths mixed with Scream masks. Or not. Whatever. Point is, the stuff has been there since August, officially making Halloween a "season."

Back to the tail -- no such luck. Gone. The "good" Halloween candy - gone. But you can get as much candy corn you want. Whoever "you" are. (That stuff is nasty.) Guess the "season" is over before the big day has even arrived.

This year, my girls will spend Halloween day/night with their father, as it's "his" weekend with them. Even though I bought the costumes and helped them plan their make-up and hair for the big day, they're all his. At first, I was sad about this. I've never missed a Halloween with them. I remember squishing their chubby little baby bodies into cute pumpkin costumes when they were about eight months old. Every year, we make the trek to a local pumpkin patch as I force them to sit on dirty, rolling pumpkins and "SMILE FOR MOMMY" so I can get the perfect pumpkin patch picture. I always look forward to dressing them up and showing them off around the neighborhood, admiring  my pumpkin patch pictures, and stealing my favorite candy out of their "loot."

At least this year, I'll have the pumpkin patch pictures and I plan on begging them to save me a few Butterfingers.

The sadness about missing Halloween with them is starting to fade. That's because we've already had a few Halloweens before Halloween. It started on Friday night, taking them trick or treating at a local fire station's gig. After an hour-long wait in line to get to the coveted candy, and about 30 minutes strolling through the fire department's mini city to collect said candy, while freezing mind you, the kids felt like they had enough and were ready to call it quits. Liv's eyeliner-turned-kitty whiskers was wearing off and Cleopatra's wig was lopsided anyway. The next day we went to the arboretum for pumpkin patch pictures which went great until Kate started trying to dribble the pumpkins toward the end. And then on Sunday the kids dressed in their costumes again for the Plano Symphony's Spooky Symphony where they collected some candy to go along with their culture.

This week, my youngest child will have her final (thank God) Halloween carnival at preschool. Wait, excuse me...Fall Festival. But she is to wear her costume, go trick or treating through the classrooms, win more junk food at a cake walk, play games, etc. But we can't call it a Halloween carnival. Too scary. then on Friday, my workplace joins in on the festivities with it's Halloween party. In order to propertly participate, I have to leave work early, get the kids, put them BACK into their costumes AGAIN, go back to work, and then let them trick or treat through the halls of D Magazine. This is one of my girls' favorite parts of the  Halloween "season" and they won't stand for missing it. Plus, I love showing them off. Have I mentioned this before?

But wait! There's more! Later that night, Kate has decided to have a pumpkin carving contest with her best friend and sister. No costumes, but it will entail a mess, pizza, and more candy I'm sure..... And then finally, we've arrived at Halloween DAY. (Yes, I capped it for emphasis.)

Backing up...

Somehow on Wednesday, after I leave work, I have to figure out how to be two places at once that are roughly 30 minutes apart. It can't be done. No matter how I try to do the math, it doesn't add up. The carnival was supposed to be on Thursday but due to forecasted inclement weather, it's moved to Wednesday.

Kate - piano lesson at 5:30 in one town

Liv's carnival - 7 to 8 p.m. in another town

Not a problem until you throw in Kate's dance lesson, which we missed last week for excessive homework, at 7 p.m. back in the other town.

Somewhere in here involves getting Liv from preschool and dressing her in the kitty costume sans tail unless I can find one within 24 hours.

I can't leave either of them alone at either location because I really like them and don't feel like defending myself to CPS. So that option is out.

I'd skip the carnival but Liv has been making decorations in class for it for two weeks (after all, Halloween is a season) and she "just can't wait to show me what she's done and she can't wait for her best friends to see her costume and she can't wait to eat a hot dog and she can't wait to play all the games" and on and on...... And it's her last year of preschool. It seems like the right thing to do.

Damn, I wish I had a nanny. Even for one night. It's the closest thing I can get to a clone.

Therefore, "impending inclement weather" has really screwed up my week. Of course, we could really use the rain. Ahem.

See? It would be so much easier if Halloween was a DAY, like it was when I was a kid. I slapped on a plastic princess mask, could barely breathe through the slit that served as a place to receive oxygen, and hit the streets running for about an hour or two to get candy. Came home, dumped the loot on the floor with my brother and sisters, played "trade" with them, and did it all again a year later. We didn't have Halloween "season" and we somehow survived. I'm bowing to commercialism, societal peer pressure, or whatever it is and going right along with this new trend to keep the spirit of multiple cavities and over-sugared kids going for a month or more. I have only myself to blame.

I admit, I might experience a pang or two of sadness when I realize I'm missing "the big night" on Halloween. I'm sure there will be moments I'll wish I could experience their excitement and I could probably use the exercise going door to door with them, walking the neighborhood. But I have a feeling by the time I fall into bed on Friday night I'm going to officially be done with Halloween season and will be perfectly fine without all the hoopla on  Saturday, thanks already experiencing a full week of it.

Maybe I'll celebrate  the end of the "season" by overdosing on "fun-size" Butterfingers on Sunday... while I start dragging out all the Christmas decorations. Gotta get started early.