The story of our Halloween...

Once upon a time there was a boy who wanted nothing more than to be Darth Vader for Halloween. For weeks and weeks it was all he would talk about. For breakfast, he talked Jedi's; for show and tell at preschool he brought Star Wars action figures; he even slept with his red light saber (which, any Star Wars fan worth his salt knows is Vader's light saber.

So, knowing that her son wanted it so badly, the boy's clever, dashing mother indulged him with a rather nice Darth Vader mask that would do all of the requisite breathing and threatening commentary for him to wear on Halloween night. And even though the solid black costume would make him practically invisible to cars, she still conceded to the black sweats and cape to complete the outfit.

There is no measure to calculate a mother's love.

As the fateful Halloween Day approached, the boy's mother waited with anticipation for the time when she could finally make all of her son's dreams reality by clothing him in darkest evil. As the day crept closer, however, she noticed a dreaded change in the boy.He started saying that he didn't want to be Darth Vader for Halloween.

"But", she replied, "the costume has been purchased. You've been begging for weeks. You'll look so adorable. It's all you've ever wanted and more..."

But the boy persisted. He decided instead that he wanted to be a scary ghost.

So, when Halloween Day came and the boy was determined to be a ghost, and the mother, acting only as her instincts instruct her to act, caved in to the boy; because how could he go Trick-or-Treating without a costume and, most importantly, how does one get pictures of one's children on Halloween if they do not go Trick-or-Treating??? So, she cut up an old sheet so he could be a ghost, but ONLY for the Trick-or Treat they were having at the High School that afternoon. That evening he HAD to be Darth Vader because she not only bought the costume, but also bought Princess Leia for his younger sister. So that was that.

So the boy's mother commenced with the cutting of the sheet. She made two adorable eyes and tried the costume on her son.

"Ah, perfect. Yes, you look so cute! You were right all along, you should be a ghost."And the boy said,

"I can't see."

"OK, we'll make the holes a little bigger."
And the mother painstakingly snipped away until she was sure that without a doubt he would be able to see. And when she tried it on again the boy wiggled and squirmed and fidgeted. And when he was done fidgeting, the eye holes were located closer to his ears than his eyes.So, the mother, being very industrious, thought,

OK, let’s cut a big hole for his face, and we'll paint his face white.

And so it was done and the boy tried it on. This time he remarked,

"I can't hear."

The mother, being a very patient, yet practical woman said,"Ghosts can't hear, so you're perfect."

And they raced off to go Trick-or-Treating at the High School which was a rousing success. The kids kept cheering him on for being "old school" by cutting up a sheet to be a ghost, but the mother just cowered in the corner because she thought her son looked so unloved that his mother would put no more thought into his costume than to cut a giant hole out of a white sheet and try to pass it off as a ghost. And right at the lowest point of this thinking the boy turned to her and replied,

"Mom, I look so cute!"

And the mother had to admit that, yes, he did.

And it came to pass that as the evening drew near and it was time to visit the boy's grandparents, that he did in fact put on the Darth Vader clothes, being content that he was able to be a ghost for part of the day, and his mother breathed a huge sigh of relief that her son had, finally, turned into the essence of all evil; and she was so proud.So imagine her surprise when they drove up to his grandma's house and, as he suddenly realized that he was going to have to knock on that door, he started tearing off the Darth Vader costume.

He never made it past the curb.

However Princess Leia did beautifully and had a fantastic time.

Once at home, the ragged, exhausted mother thought, "maybe when his friends come to Trick-or-Treat he'll decide it looks fun and tag along.
Not a chance.
So the mother and Princess Leia Trick-or-Treated around the neighborhood. Leia even learned how to knock on doors and when the door opened she would babble the cutest little baby gibberish you've ever heard and hold her bag high in the air in a gesture that could only mean,

"can you even believe how adorable I am? Your efforts to refuse me candy are fruitless and futile. You cannot withstand my cuteness."

And the mother had no idea that a child could know the ways of the Force so young.

As they lugged Leia's overflowing candy bag home and walked into the house, pleased that at least one child had had a good time, the mother could hear faintly, somewhere in the distance,

"I want to dress up as Darth Vader and go Trick-or-Treating."
"Do you really?"
"Yes"
"You have to wear your costume"
"I know"
And so they went, and the boy would not allow his mother to go to the door with him. And after he was done, he wanted to go again. And the love that the mother had for her son was so great that they went again and canvassed the entire block.

And they came home and watched the Great Pumpkin and went to bed.

And the next morning the son went to Preschool dressed as a cowboy, but only after he had decided against Tigger, Pooh Bear, and the color orange.

But that is a story for another time...