Happy Halloween!

Last night, I went trick-or-treating for the first time since I was 13. Mary and her boys, Indiana Jones (Bela) and Army Boy (Felix), invited me to go with them in the neighborhood behind my house, aka. Halloween Wonderland. Seriously, these people go all out. One house was showing The Nightmare Before Christmas on a big screen in the yard. We went through several blow-up haunted houses. Mary got trapped in an enormous spider web. The boys drew the line at strobe lights (too scary), however, so we didn't get to go to any of those houses.

This is the same neighborhood that mandates each house put up white fairy lights at Christmas so that the whole neighborhood looks like a White Light Winter Wonderland. There are always a couple of rebel houses that are obviously pissed off about being told what to do. They always put up colored lights, and I'm sure all of the other neighbors want to just claw their eyes out whenever they pass.

Anyway, here is one reason that you have to love the South: booze. Mary and I left the house with two solo cups full of red wine (trust me -- we are both going through times in our lives in which a little wine numbing seems to do a lot of good). Every other parent out there had the same idea, so I can't feel too irresponsible about getting a little liquored up on Halloween.

About halfway through this adventure, we were started to run low. Then, we walked up to a house and a keg appeared just like a glorious vision from the heavens. I said, "Mary! This is the best house ever!" The owner asked, "Do y'all need a refill? Are you of age?" Yes, I indeed needed a refill and yes, I was of age +10 years, but thank you for asking and telling me that I look so young because I am kind of feeling a little old and you probably don't want to hear about all of that right now, so I'll just take some merlot thank you very much.

By the end of the night, both "adults" were a petit bit tipsy. Indiana Jones took it upon himself to make sure I didn't stray. I would get lost in thought while looking at some house with demons in the dormers and, suddenly, I would hear, "Come on Allison! We're going this way." Thank goodness for the little angels that look after us.

Meanwhile, Beth was busy performing Thriller in the NYC Halloween Parade. Ha! She, Anne and Anne's sister, Sarah, had been practicing since Monday night. That's Hallween dedication. Here's a link to the Youtube video: Thriller 2008.

Actually, here is the NY1 coverage and you can see Beth. "OK, in this version, toward the end, at time 2:01, from an arial shot looking down, you will see my red wig toward the top of the screen, right in the center. I was on TV!!!": NY1 Thriller