Sayre Halloween 2014 & Halloween 2014

Last year was the most amazing Halloween ever — as the students who live in Sayre Village with us put on an incredible night of trick-or-treating for our three bambinos, organized and orchestrated by the bambinos’ beloved Uncle Jon (aka our 2nd-year-on-campus-Head-Gryphon). [CLICK HERE.] Oh my word, was that Sayre Halloween 2013 ever fabulous. And the year before was absolutely FABULOUSO as well! Sayre Halloween 2012 we were dealing with a major weather event (Hurricane Sandy!), and yet somehow our bambinos received the most wonderful Halloween planned entirely by their beloved Aunt Sarah (aka our 1st-year-on-campus-Head-Gryphon). [CLICK HERE.] My, oh my, that was a wonderful Halloween.

There’s a pattern going here: Amazing Halloweens on campus!

Sayre Halloween has become my favorite night of the year as a faculty family in residence!

So, the precedent had been set, and a tradition had been established on campus, and 2014 did not disappoint! Our incredible community of students-we-love, and our 3rd-year-on-campus-Head-Gryphon-Jevin made — for the 3rd year in a row — an awesome and memorable and incredibly-inspiring Halloween for our bambinos yet again. This year the bambinos trick-or-treated throughout Sayre (150 students opening up their apartments in the three buildings that make up Sayre Village; the students love it— it is usually the first time they’ve been the ‘adults’ handing out the candy to kids from their own place). In addition, Kyle and Owen and Meera were invited to trick-or-treat at two other houses on “The Hill” — Umoja House and House 104. It was an AMAZING night! Amazing, amazing, amazing! Words just don’t do this whole thing justice. The students just amaze me beyond belief.

This year we planned for, and hosted, a Pumpkin Carving Party for post-trick-or-treating. We invited Sayre students to come over for cider, pizza, candy, and pumpkin-carving. The World Series was on… so there was some watching-of-that going on too. We roasted pumpkin seeds. We ate pizza (Man oh man, college students can eat! They devoured 8 large pizzas and several gallons of cider!). It was SUCH a GREAT night!!!

Facebook status post: “Tonight is trick-or-treating in our very own neighborhood (campus)! Incredible for me to witness this experience— totally 100% student-organized Halloween for our 3 bambinos (and only for our 3 bambinos; they are the only campus kids)! Trick-or-treating at the residence halls… An amazing thing for a professor to get to do. This is one of my favorite nights of the year of living on campus!— at Lehigh University.”

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After Spooktacular 2014, and Sayre Halloween 2014, it was finally October 31st, 2014 — and by that time I was just about all Halloween’ed out. But, alas, there was still Halloween 2014 to do. There were the bambinos’ school Halloween parties and their school Halloween Parade…

…and then there was actual Halloween night.

That night we went to our friends, The Reeds, house — they live in a perfect trick-or-treating neighborhood right on the edge of campus. We had pizza and hung out with them and by the time it was dark and trick-or-treating time I was just about 100% spent. I took only one picture that night, but it pretty much sums up the entire experience:

Facebook status post: “This Elsa costume got a LOT of use over the past couple of weeks. And this mama is officially done with the whole extravaganza that is Halloween “season.” Sugar highs. Sugar lows. Done and done. Halloween 2014 over and out!”

The next morning — November 1, 2014 — I went to work and rid every square inch of our entire apartment of everything-and-anything Halloween-related. Including the HUGE amount of candy that the bambinos had acquired over the entire Halloween season. This, for sure, is a perk of living in a dorm with a Residential Fellow family:

It was amazing how fast that candy disappeared!