And here we are, 2 months to the end of 2025! What.
We had a super nice, low-key Halloween. Very different from years ago, but still nice.
Our family tradition for Halloween is that I make chili and we have salad + French bread + Halloween cupcakes (or, cake, if you forgot to buy the cupcake liners). I hand the candy out, though we live on a cul-de-sac and don’t get too many trick-or-treaters anyway. I think we had less than 10 groups in total!
My attempt at Halloween magic for my teens over breakfast:
This is the closest I get to dressing up these days:
I had a work webinar to listen to, so I cleverly saved it for Friday afternoon to pair with chili prep:
After work I enjoyed some cozy time home alone finishing up the rest of the preparations with a Halloween You Tube station playing jazz on my refrigerator screen and my candle burning and the smell of the chili. Ahhh. That was nice.
Yep, this is one of those boxed Funfetti cakes which I bought at Target at 9:15 p.m. on Thursday night. Ha. This is an area where I have ZERO shame; this storebought mix is our tradition and I feel no need to make anything homemade or more elaborate!
Candy ready:
A treat I picked up for the boys:
Per tradition, my parents also came for the night and for dinner!
Trick or treating was from 5-7 pm. We just hung around and chatted and I put a spooky You Tube channel on the big TV while I handed out candy.
Ivan bought this new Halloween decoration at Bath and Body Works when he picked up some hand soaps for the house recently. Haha. Funny! (Ivan is not a “buy decorations guy” but he liked this):
We waited to eat until after trick or treating ended.
Asher had plans to go to a Halloween party, but we were able to all sit together at the table at least briefly!
Asher went to the party as Max Goof, the Disney character. Not sure why? lol. He and a friend hit up a thrift store for the hat, glasses, red t-shirt and then Asher crafted the ears somehow and attached with safety pins.
I dug out this old photo from when he met Max Goof at Disney World!
We ended the night watching the World Series!! Boo. (Rooting for Toronto as a) the Dodgers have won recently and b) the Dodgers knocked the Brewers out!!)
And now, it’s Christmastime! 🤣
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful for my chili! I love my recipe and it’s sooo good.
GRATEFUL KAE 
Love the blond hair! As a Canadian reader I’m so happy you are cheering for our Jays! We are on pins and needles here waiting for tonight.
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Ethan’s hair!!!! What a surprise!
Happy Halloween.
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Love this! We had hundreds and hundreds of TotTers– 2 boxes of full size candy bars, a box of ring pops, and 3 costco bags of candy!
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Halloween is not something I grew up with and feels forced to me here in Germany. However it is taking over. We had so many people ring my door bell but I didn’t open. I am that Grinch.
Chilli sounds great. I made some a few weeks back and it was good.
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I spy the ‘football is everything’ shirt! Paul wears that one a lot and loves it!
Your Halloween sounded great! We always make chili for our pumpkin carving gathering. So I had leftovers on Halloween night. It was chilly and misting but it did not slow our boys down. They had a blast. They went for ak hour with me and then an hour with Phil. I was happy to warm up and watch some ‘Nobody Wants This’ episodes!
And no shame on that box mix! Traditions like that are so fun! And I feel like funfetti is not something you should try to make from scratch!!
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I like the Halloween chili dinner tradition! I made soup the day before, so we had leftover soup which is a pretty light dinner so that left plenty of room for candy. We had those same Nerds in our candy bowl. We ran out of candy about 45 minutes before trick or treat ended, so we turned off all of the lights in the front of our house and hung out in our backroom.
The only negative about Halloween is that a bunch of weird people knocking on the door is pretty much Doggo’s worst nightmare.
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This looks fun, and I like Ethan’s hair!!! My daughter is thinking of going blond again- it’s a fun change. How did Charlie do with the trick or treaters?
Someone was joking today about having the house all decorated for Christmas when the family returned home from trick or treating, lol. Why not??? Christmas is the best, let’s celebrate as long as possible.
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What a nice and relaxed Halloween. Loved the Goofy costume 🙂
I cannot believe it’s November already (and NaBloPoMo – hooray for joining again!), but here we are.
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Hi Kae! I love my chili recipe too. I made two crockpots full yesterday, and Coach is supposed to plug them in on Tuesday. I’ll be flying back from a funeral in Tampa. I mass produced it yesterday, so Tuesday’s dinner will be a breeze as Curly has a semi final sectional volleyball game too. (that I will miss – boo). I’ll share some of it with my elderly folks who live walking distance to me, and my older boys who don’t live with us anymore.
I got pics from my college son of him in a variety of costumes over the weekend. Who is to say what motivated him to dress in any of them? He looks like he was having fun though.
Our Halloween was the opposite of yours – our kids weren’t home, so we snuck off for an early drink and appetizer. I left the candy on the front porch. There was still some left when we got home at 5:15, but we had no other trick of treaters after that. I was shocked.
I fully support a boxed cake. So yummy.
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Your Halloween looks so cozy and comforting! I love it.
I was so excited when my mom moved into a house a few years ago for Halloween. But her neighborhood doesn’t get ANY trick-or-treaters. It was a very disappointing realization.
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