Our First Halloween as Homeowners

Being a homeowner has its ups and downs. Downs including waiting until 2009 until our homestead tax reduction kicks in since we could not apply for them until we moved in which was April and we did, but they won't take effect until good old 2009 - so that is an extra $200 a month tacked on to our escrow. Anyways, one of the more recent "ups" came around Halloween. For once we will finally have Trick-or-Treaters! For the past 4 years we have lived in apartment complexes my husband and I have always dressed up and stocked up on candy for potential Trick-or-Treaters and each year we are sadly disappointed. One year we almost had a visitor come up to the third floor of our building but they quickly turned away after hearing the crazed barking of our harmless but mean-sounding mutts. Well, this year we have a house in a neighborhood filled with families with two or three kids each - all in the trick-or-treat age-range! So we stocked up, two or three large bags of chocolate and assorted candies - bought some outdoor decor, carved our pumpkins, and switched on our front door light. This year we got what we wanted - trick-or-treaters out the ying-yang. They started showing up promptly at 6PM and we ran out candy before 8PM - had to start limiting how much we handed out (picture little tots with sad eyes as we only hand out one piece - one little girl even asked for more!) and when the last piece was gone we had to turn off the light to discourage more visitors. It was crazy! And everyone had great things to say about our creatively carved pumpkins. No one could believe they were real - but real they are!