Tuesday, November 01, 2005
And so it begins
On my way to work this morning, I saw the official Giant Christmas Tree of Pier 39, San Francisco's Cheesiest Tourist Destination, lying on it side in a tractor trailer. Preparations to erect said tree appeared to be in full swing. At least they waited until November...but I don't think I'm quite ready for Christmas stuff yet. Can't we get past Thanksgiving first?
Halloween in our neighborhood was quite a scene. We took Lindsay out for a walk to check out decorations and see some friends. We live half a block from Alameda's version of Christmas Tree Lane...um, oops, PC police say Holiday Lane. They go crazy over Christmas...more on that at the appropriate time. More and more, they also go all out for Halloween: scary dudes in costumes, smoke machines, lights, movies projecting on sheets in front windows, a "hanged" man swinging from a tree in his front yard via some kind of harness and handing out candy, etc. And somehow word has gotten out about this scene here and in other parts of Alameda, because carloads of kids are brought in from Oakland and the surrounding area.
We kept the house dark this year due to a small baby and an antsy dog, but in past years we've easily run out of candy after an hour or so. Around the corner, I witnessed lines of kids 1o or 20 deep waiting to get candy from doorways. There's no tradition to it -- you know, the knock at the door or doorbell, and you open the door and small kids in cute/scary costumes say "Trick or Treat" in unison. No, this spectacle was more assembly line, adult hands repetitively dipping into 20 lb bowls of candy and dropping the goodies into outstretched bags. It's a business transaction. Bah humbug.
But my kids are still cute! I'll post a picture of Ella once I track one down.
Update! Got the photo. Quality is mediocre...but damn, what an awesome Cinderella she made. Makes me proud...and also sad that I missed it. One of the challenges of being the non-custodial parent.
Halloween in our neighborhood was quite a scene. We took Lindsay out for a walk to check out decorations and see some friends. We live half a block from Alameda's version of Christmas Tree Lane...um, oops, PC police say Holiday Lane. They go crazy over Christmas...more on that at the appropriate time. More and more, they also go all out for Halloween: scary dudes in costumes, smoke machines, lights, movies projecting on sheets in front windows, a "hanged" man swinging from a tree in his front yard via some kind of harness and handing out candy, etc. And somehow word has gotten out about this scene here and in other parts of Alameda, because carloads of kids are brought in from Oakland and the surrounding area.
We kept the house dark this year due to a small baby and an antsy dog, but in past years we've easily run out of candy after an hour or so. Around the corner, I witnessed lines of kids 1o or 20 deep waiting to get candy from doorways. There's no tradition to it -- you know, the knock at the door or doorbell, and you open the door and small kids in cute/scary costumes say "Trick or Treat" in unison. No, this spectacle was more assembly line, adult hands repetitively dipping into 20 lb bowls of candy and dropping the goodies into outstretched bags. It's a business transaction. Bah humbug.
But my kids are still cute! I'll post a picture of Ella once I track one down.
Update! Got the photo. Quality is mediocre...but damn, what an awesome Cinderella she made. Makes me proud...and also sad that I missed it. One of the challenges of being the non-custodial parent.
// posted by Bill @ 9:17 AM 
