Hallowe'en 2012
Once again I was overwhelmed by cuteness. The pre-made costume fad has not yet reached Stirling. Almost everything, with the exception of some masks were scratch made. None of the girls wore anything inappropriate. As usual, I set up on the front porch with Bucky and my treats so I would not have to keep constantly opening the door and risk Molly dashing out. One boy came to the front porch wearing a huge corrugated cardboard box. I asked him if he was a UPS shipment and he replied, "No. My name is Jack and I'm in a box." Then there were the tiny ones, some almost asleep in their parents' arms. Included were two adorable twin girls just two years old and a nine-month-old boy in a brilliantly made skunk costume. Two of the fathers got into the act. One was dressed in a very good scratch-built Darth Vader costume and another was dressed as Gandalf the Grey. Kids started to call at about 5:45 p.m. and it petered out by about 7:45 p.m. By the amount of treats I started with and the amount I finished with, I estimate just under 300 children called. Depend on which source you read, Stirling has a population of between 1800 and 2000 people. I think a lot of parents bring their kids to the village from the surrounding farms for trick-or-treating.