Halloween Blessings

October 31, 2016 It's not just about small town life, although that's part of it. It's about our kids who have made good friends with other young couples fro church. Tonight after taking their kids trick or treating, Todd and Jess, Matt and Jeanine, along with their friends (and ours) Jen and Darren, Brandon and Brandi, and Melissa, along with all their kids (I think there are ten of them, but they were here and there, so I didn't actually get a count) showed up at our door. Linda had hidden sacks of treats around the house for the kids to find, and the table was set with doughnuts, Timbits, hot mulled cider, regular cider, and coffee. She also set out a dish of grapes to assuage our guilt for all the junk we were eating. An hour and a half later, we were saying our goodbyes, having shared stories and laughter around the table, the perfect ending to an otherwise quiet Halloween. When we lived in the middle of town, it wasn't uncommon to have two hundred kids show up for Halloween. Living on the edge of the village, only our kids stop by. I miss seeing the little ones all dressed up; not so much the older kids who don a little facepaint and hope for the best. It was a good evening, blessed by the presence of our kids, their friends, and all the little kids who were playing happily together tonight. No, it's not big stuff, but it is the stuff of life, our life, for which I am grateful tonight.