Dear Family, Friends, and Diary,
It's the start of holiday season in America: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's. Ten weeks of decorations, visiting, eating, drinking, and general celebration. Growing up, parental celebration was off-putting, what with that "drinking" part, but that has been behind me for a few decades now. Besides, Halloween has always been kid-forward!
Walking through our neighborhood, there were ghosts and goblins hanging around everywhere. WE don't take the time or effort, but do appreciate neighbors who do. Thanks.
This was the scariest house. Our neighborhood is pretty "blue" but a few dictator-friendly folks add variety. A few years ago, this was a rental home with gang members. In hindsight, the new owners seem more of a threat. I hope the 2025 holiday season offers enough distraction to tone down worry, but it will be a challenge.
The highlight of Halloween for Cambridge Avenue is our traditional pot-luck-and-candy-line where we assemble on The Commons for chatting, eating, and, most importantly, giving the local kids an efficient way to collect lots of candy.
This year, we had four German guests from Münster who were visiting as part of a Fresno Sister City program. They joined in, admitting that even back home the American treat-giving night is part of young people's lives now. Not such bad American propaganda, I suppose.
Our block of Cambridge Avenue does not have many kids, but Wilson and his parents did join us, as did a little guy who took a parent-Uber over from Yale. (One or two of the houses on our block will be coming up for sale shortly and we hope families move in before next Halloween.) Otherwise, it was neighbor chatting as usual.
But, the highlight is always the costumed kids who show up once it gets dark. The little ones timidly pick a piece or two of candy from the bowls, while bigger visitors dig in. Some have been coming to The Commons for years and tell us it's the best spot in town! We hope so.
By the end of the evening, we'd fed neighbors, visitors, and plenty of kids. Here's hoping the tradition continues next year!
Stay tuned for the rest of our holiday celebrations - plus a little travel when we can.
John and Marianne