Brilliant day

Small spooky tree, festooned with reject Christmas light strand, out on the front porch; it was a cheerful little red rhodedendron decades ago, purchased from Chubby and Tubby, a discount odds and ends place on Aurora Avenue - idyllic name for a blighted fourlane - a little shrub that withered away. It was transformed into the Halloween Tree, and has spent many years in our basement gathering patina on its fake cobwebs and construction paper bats, to be hauled out once a year. There have always been carved pumpkins illuminating it from below, but this year, white squash adorned with ghost cat masks accompanied the tree. We had a mere dozen or so costumed kids this year, maybe due to the cold. The posse of preschoolers who live on this block were out in force, and looked cozy in their fleece dinosaur, black cat, and other outfits.
Too much lousy candy left over!