Teresa was a bunny for Halloween this year, or, more accurately, a bunny that ate a pumpkin. That accounts for her lightweight pumpkin costume, worn for indoor events, and her heavy, plush bunny costume, which she wore trick-or-treating and as a coat to one Halloween party. I didn’t spend a dime on either costume; Frank wore the pumpkin one, which I think someone gave to us as a hand-medown, and my mother- in-law made the bunny costume and lined it with pink satin for Caroline. I didn’t spend any money on costumes for Caroline and Frank, either. We bought Caroline a halo and wings (total cost: about $10) because she thought she would go as an angel, but she changed her mind and wore pjs to one Halloween party and Blackhawks gear trick-or-treating. Frank wore a Cubs jersey and hat with his baseball pants and socks. I wore the halo — sans wings — to a Halloween party. Tony didn’t dress up for anything, even though he owns the gorilla suit in the box at the back of the closet. We didn’t carve pumpkins this year, but we did put a couple of small ones on the porch. All in all, Halloween was about as lowkey as holidays come. And it was good. It was good to take Teresa out, bundled up in her bunny suit and in her stroller, in the chilly twilight air, as groups of kids and parents made the rounds. It was good to be able to stand and watch from the sidewalk as Caroline and Frank went up and down the porch steps. Maybe next year we’ll get them to do that with Teresa; it will take a lot longer, but she’ll want to go because by then she’ll be able to eat at least some candy. It was good to be done by 6:45 p.m., with no elaborate costumes to shed or makeup to wash off. It was good to wake up Nov. 1 with no smashed jack-o-lanterns. When Caroline and Frank were small, it seemed like the celebration of Halloween started before the end of September and went on for weeks. There was at least one year that we carved two sets of jack-olanterns because the first ones spoiled before Halloween. There were construction paper pumpkins and ghosts and bats and all manner of paraphernalia. And it was good. Much of the Halloween hullabaloo soon will come back into our lives as Teresa learns about it. With her introduction to the family, I figure we have at least 10 more years of trick-or-treating. It will be fun, I’m sure. For this year, it was good to scale back, enjoy giving the kids the chance to behave in ways that normally would never be allowed without drawing it out too long. By the morning of Nov. 1, at All Saints Day Mass, it was done. Now let’s see if we can make it through Thanksgiving before Christmas intrudes.