Halloween here on MCAS Iwakuni is BIG! The local Japanese children come aboard and trick-or-treat along side the base children! It is so much fun. Sam and Macy have their own different strategies for collecting candy. Macy likes to walk to each town house and deliberately avoid anything that looks scary. She likes to go with some of the bigger girls in the neighborhood. Some of the dads like to hide out in the drain pipes and gutters and jump out when the kids come by! Macy doesn't love that! Sam likes to RUN to each house (even the scariest), and then hit all of the mid-rise apartments. He likes to go out on his own as another person might slow him down. Both of them like to hurry to the chapel fall festival afterwards to add to their loot. Macy uses a very polite "trick or treat" and a nice shy smile to get her treasures. Sam goes for volume- as many houses he can hit in the shortest amount of time. Both strategies seem to work very well judging from the mountain of candy that they each bring home. Once home, they always dump out their candy and immediately start trading. My siblings and I did the exact same thing. The boys hung out with their friends and had a great evening as well. They did a little trick or treating, but not as much as the twins. Jack is usually pretty quiet, but when he came home after treating, he was so animated and chatty. I loved it!
Now, I know that too much candy before bed is never a good idea. I have heard that some moms put their children's candy bucket outside on halloween night and the "Great Pumpkin" picks up all of the candy and leaves the children a very nice toy. I really do like that idea. But I just always let the kids HAVE AT IT!!!! And yes, they do go into a crazy mode for an hour or so, and I usually begin to regret my decision. But before too long, I start to see that glazed over look in their eyes and the slight downturn of their mouths. And before you know it- Sugar Coma!!!! And they are out like little light bulbs for the rest of the evening. This is when I can dig through their candy and steal all of the Peppermint Patties and Almond Joys. Oh-- and the Peanut M&M's and maybe a Milky Way or two. I am really not that picky now that I think about it.
We had about 500 trick or treaters this year! About 60% of them were Japanese children. They come to the door, hold out their bags and say "Trick or Treat-A". They always add that "uh" sound to the end. After they receive their treat, they always say in a very scripted, but sweet voice "Thank you very much". One of the little Japanese boys (he was probably about 4) came up and pushed the babies hat off of her head just a little ways, bent down, kissed her on the forehead, and walked away. It was so very sweet. I wish that I had recorded it somehow. But it was just one of those moments.
Macy dressed as the Pinky the ghost from Pac Man. Sam went, once again, as a handsome Blue Angel. Jack was Charlie Brown. And, for the third year running, Josh was the red Angry Bird! I wore my Cinderella costume once again. It is the one time of year that I can pretend to be a princess. The silly costume must have shrunk two sizes this year though! The baby wore her "Very Hungry Caterpillar" suit. She was a big hit! The Japanese ladies kept touching her head and saying "ka-wa-ii" (cute).
It was a wonderful evening. And now we look forward to another Thanksgiving here in Japan. We have so very much to be thankful for!
