Take One Bag Please!

 It's a little hard to believe, but at our house Harry Potter has taken a bit of a backseat to another fictional hero. This season Char is all about Percy Jackson. She listened to the first four books with me in the car, and then she went back and read all five books by herself.

Percy's best friend is Annabeth Chase. She's often seen in her Camp Half-Blood t-shirt. Annabeth turns invisible when she pulls her New York Yankees ball cap over her blonde hair that's tied in a ponytail. 

Here is Char's version for Halloween (without the face mask):

One of the few things that Annabeth cherishes is a laptop given to her by the inventor Daedalus. There's a large blue Delta (Greek ∆) is on the laptop's lid. Char had the idea to use an old laptop carrying case as her candy bag. Daphne helped make the case look official.

A new book series wasn't the only thing different this Halloween, of course. I wasn't even sure Char would get to go trick-or-treating during a pandemic. The city decided it would be okay if people were careful, in the end. We did our best. We put candy in individual baggies the previous weekend, and then let them sit in storage all week. I wore a mask and gloves, and I stood behind the glass storm door when the monsters, ghosts, spacemen, and superheroes started coming around.

I  replaced the bags on the front porch as they were taken.

There weren't as many houses giving out candy this year, so I went through 50 bags in 45 minutes. That was really fast, and I wished had prepared more. We just didn't know how many kids would be out. I felt bad about turning off our house lights so early, but I didn't have a choice. 

Each morning the teachers in our school district get clean towels and spray bottles filled with Ozone water to disinfect the tables and chairs after each class. 

The water only acts as a disinfectant for 24 hours, so what is unused gets poured down the drain each night. Daphne took an empty spray bottle to work, and filled it with the Ozone water that would have been discarded. When Char got home from trick-or-treating, we spread her candy across the kitchen counter and sprayed it down.

Daphne and I had a quick dinner while Char played with Ellie. Then Char watched "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" for the first time. She liked the classic cartoon, but she didn't like Ichabod, "He just likes Katrina for her dad's money!" 

When it was all over, I asked Char, "Even though you had to wear a face mask and be extra careful this year, did it still seem like a normal Halloween?"

Char thought for a moment and said, "Well, I didn't get to go to as many houses, but yeah, it was a lot of fun." 

That's all that we could have hoped for. 🎃 👻 ☠️👀