So anyway.....is anybody out there still reading this?
Fall is a very beautiful time of year. I want to love fall. Really, I do! The cooler temperatures, the leaves changing, walking hand-in-hand with my dreamboat husband. The exciting holidays coming! What's not to love?! Then, just when you start to think that maybe this year will be different...BAM...Halloween preparations smack you right in the head and you suddenly remember why you don't like fall or winter.
*Warning* This post contains some violence and may or may not be based on a true story.
The costumes! There's the costume decision, the mind-changing, the crowds at party city, the expensive, cheaply-made costumes, the crowds at party city, finding make-up, the crowds at party city, the fake hair, and did I mention the crowds at party city?!
Halloween comes. You start to get them ready for some fun while they are kicking and screaming! Nooooooo...I don't want to be Batman!! I want to be Superman! At this point, you, being a perfectly reasonable mom, are quickly approaching the raving lunatic stage of Halloween. The insane person who starts yelling "YOU WILL PUT THIS COSTUME ON RIGHT NOW!!! YOU WILL LIKE IT AND YOU WILL HAVE FUN, BY GOLLY! IF YOU DON'T STOP THIS BEHAVIOR THIS INSTANT, I WILL BEAT YOU AND THEN SELL YOU TO THE CIRCUS!" Just for the record, I don't beat my children or sell them to the circus!
You are now sweaty, but you have to recover quickly because the doorbell starts ringing! You open the door, murmuring under your breath something like "who the heck goes trick-or-treating at 5:00?!" You take a deeeeep breath, smile sweetly to the little ones at the door, tell them how cute they are and then give them candy and tell them Happy Halloween. The door is not even closed before you are screaming at your little demons to come here! They look at you with their little red, watery eyes as you tell them to SMILE(!) for the camera so mommy can take their picture as the doorbell rings again. Before you can get them to pose again, the older ones are running out the door to go trick-or-treating with friends as your smiling husband comes home and says "who's ready to go trick-or-treating?!" At this point, the little one is so traumatized that he is willing to go anywhere that his crazy mom is not! So they happily go off, but you are not allowed to go with them because "well, honey, you are scary and you frighten him." So, once again, you stay home and pass out candy. As the night goes on, the older tricksters (you know, those young parents with the newborn) come by and look offended that you only have the cheap stuff.
After two cul-de-sacs, the little one is ready to call it a night. He can not take one.more.step! So, you head inside to get all of the good stuff out of his stash before someone else gets it. You know, the kids that are too cool for trick-or-treating but not too cool to eat the candy brought home by the little brother. At this point, you leave the bowl of candy on the porch and write a note "please, don't ring the doorbell just take what you want! Also, please do not plaster our pumpkin all over our house, yard, driveway, or street! We are sorry about the cheap candy, but we couldn't buy the expensive stuff because of the expense of costumes (and have you seeeeen the crowds at party city?)"
Soon the ones that are "not too proud to go trick-or-treating as long as we go with someone besides our parents" start to trickle in. They have loads of candy, but can't share because, well you know, they hardly got anything. What? These two pillow cases? Well, yes, they are full to the brim, but that will only last until tomorrow! If we share, it will be gone tonight! Oh, and can we have this out of little brother's stash?!
You finally get them to go to bed 5 hours later after the candy high wears off! Just as you are laying your head on the pillow, you realize that you never did get a picture, and as if on cue, you hear the pumpkin smash against the front door! Wasn't that a fun night your sweet husband asks as he drifts off to snore land. You seriously think of smothering him with your pillow, but luckily are too tired to follow thru. Yeah, great fun...I can't wait for next year you say as you drift off to sleep. For some reason you dream about that movie groundhog day except in your dream it is Halloween that you have to do over every day!
The End
No.....I'm not bitter. Why do you ask? Do I sound bitter?
No.....I'm not bitter. Why do you ask? Do I sound bitter?
We managed to get costumes, we braved the crowds at party city (and target and walmart). We even managed a trip to the salvation army for an old prom dress. Some of my kids used their imagination and came up with a costume on their own.
We went to the trunk-or-treat at our church on Friday night. It was loads of fun. They had a yummy soup dinner with rolls and a pumpkin dessert. Carson shed his costume as soon as we got there. He wanted to get his picture taken with the Great Pumpkin until he got up close and realized that the GP was a little scary. Here is Emily and Elizabeth with the GP trying to coax Carson up on his lap. Hats off to the GP who sat there a long time with a pumpkin on his head!
Carson was a firefighter (see...nothing like the story above)
Look! We managed a picture with the hat!
Carson enjoying the other activities offered. No costume :(
The best part though was visiting all the trunks to get treats. I enjoyed the peace and quiet of the back of our van. I would show you a picture of it all scaried up with fabulous Halloween spookies but I don't want you to get jealous or anything. Okay, okay...no, we didn't decorate our van. We did have candy though and that seemed to be enough. What a great night! The activities committee always does a fantastic job!
Saturday night was the real trick-or-treating night. The kids happily and willingly dressed up in their costumes.....except Carson, who did not see the point in dressing up AGAIN! Then we reminded him of the candy and he was dressed in a split second.
Chris has dressed like a teenager too cool to go trick-or-treating for the past couple of Halloweens. He was spot-on...he even added a few good eye-rolls for effect. This year, since Halloween was on a Friday night, he was dressed up as a member of the Stony Point HS Marching band performing in the special Halloween half-time show. That seems to be the favorite performance of the season. You can watch it here:
We went to the trunk-or-treat at our church on Friday night. It was loads of fun. They had a yummy soup dinner with rolls and a pumpkin dessert. Carson shed his costume as soon as we got there. He wanted to get his picture taken with the Great Pumpkin until he got up close and realized that the GP was a little scary. Here is Emily and Elizabeth with the GP trying to coax Carson up on his lap. Hats off to the GP who sat there a long time with a pumpkin on his head!
Carson was a firefighter (see...nothing like the story above)
Look! We managed a picture with the hat!
Carson enjoying the other activities offered. No costume :(
The best part though was visiting all the trunks to get treats. I enjoyed the peace and quiet of the back of our van. I would show you a picture of it all scaried up with fabulous Halloween spookies but I don't want you to get jealous or anything. Okay, okay...no, we didn't decorate our van. We did have candy though and that seemed to be enough. What a great night! The activities committee always does a fantastic job!
Saturday night was the real trick-or-treating night. The kids happily and willingly dressed up in their costumes.....except Carson, who did not see the point in dressing up AGAIN! Then we reminded him of the candy and he was dressed in a split second.
Chris has dressed like a teenager too cool to go trick-or-treating for the past couple of Halloweens. He was spot-on...he even added a few good eye-rolls for effect. This year, since Halloween was on a Friday night, he was dressed up as a member of the Stony Point HS Marching band performing in the special Halloween half-time show. That seems to be the favorite performance of the season. You can watch it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEsAzE5d3cU (sorry I don't know how to do one of those link thingies)
Kinsey and her friend Lauren were dead prom queens. They created a storyline that involved two girls wasting each other because they both liked the prom king. They tried really hard to get someone to play the prom king but didn't have much luck. They still went as dead prom queens, I can't remember what happened to the prom king. Maybe they wasted him before wasting each other? Kinsey had the best halloween since she's been in Texas. The first two years were sad because of that pact she made with herself "hmphf...I will go with you to Texas because I have no other choice, but I will not like it and I will NOT have friends for atleast a year!" She didn't have friends to go with so she had to go with her parents and little brother! How embarrassing! This year she found a friend to go with and didn't even have to be in the same neighborhood with her parents. Yes, life is good for Kinsey right now!
Jared came up with a very clever costume this year...without buying a thing. He was a nerd. It was really a stretch for him because he is a football jock you know! He was thrilled to be able to go out with his friend Josh. Josh dressed up like an old man. He even had the walk down. They were so happy that they could go without a parent and that they were in the same state this year!
Emily and her friend Elizabeth were witches. They scored a trick-or-treating spot with friends and their parents. They would "check-in" once in a while because they are responsible like that (or they wanted to get more candy from the home front). They had a great night and ate most of their treats before the night was finished.
Carson had to go with dad. He loves his dad though so that was okay by him. He didn't really want to be a firefighter that night, but he is really into the Halloween thing! He is amazed that all he has to do is ring a doorbell and people tell him how cute he is and give him candy! He really likes to walk right on in to people's homes to have a looksy. You know, just to get a feel for the neighborhood. Sometimes he even gets another treat on the way out. He knows how to work the system!
I stayed home passing out candy again. I thought I was better this year, but I guess not. We gave away all our candy and then shut out the lights. We got "booed" this year (someone leaves a treat on your doorstep and leaves a little ghost to hang on your window. You are then supposed to hand out treats to two more families.) Shhhh....don't tell anyone, we never did get around to that! This is the first year that we did not carve pumpkins. We even used white pumpkins several years before it was the "in" thing to do. We used to be trend setters! This year, though, we were just tired. No Halloween decorations except for a little ghost that my friend gave me. Good news, though, with no pumpkin there was no pumpkin smashing!
It makes me a little sad that all of my kids (except Carson) prefer to go trick-or-treating with someone else. They are getting older and their parents are soooo yesterday! Sigh.......
We had a wonderfully fun night, though, and no tears were shed. Oh, and Gary escaped death by pillow yet again because this year he was home for the prep work and he remembered to take pictures! What a dreamboat he is!!
Kinsey and her friend Lauren were dead prom queens. They created a storyline that involved two girls wasting each other because they both liked the prom king. They tried really hard to get someone to play the prom king but didn't have much luck. They still went as dead prom queens, I can't remember what happened to the prom king. Maybe they wasted him before wasting each other? Kinsey had the best halloween since she's been in Texas. The first two years were sad because of that pact she made with herself "hmphf...I will go with you to Texas because I have no other choice, but I will not like it and I will NOT have friends for atleast a year!" She didn't have friends to go with so she had to go with her parents and little brother! How embarrassing! This year she found a friend to go with and didn't even have to be in the same neighborhood with her parents. Yes, life is good for Kinsey right now!
Jared came up with a very clever costume this year...without buying a thing. He was a nerd. It was really a stretch for him because he is a football jock you know! He was thrilled to be able to go out with his friend Josh. Josh dressed up like an old man. He even had the walk down. They were so happy that they could go without a parent and that they were in the same state this year!
Emily and her friend Elizabeth were witches. They scored a trick-or-treating spot with friends and their parents. They would "check-in" once in a while because they are responsible like that (or they wanted to get more candy from the home front). They had a great night and ate most of their treats before the night was finished.
Carson had to go with dad. He loves his dad though so that was okay by him. He didn't really want to be a firefighter that night, but he is really into the Halloween thing! He is amazed that all he has to do is ring a doorbell and people tell him how cute he is and give him candy! He really likes to walk right on in to people's homes to have a looksy. You know, just to get a feel for the neighborhood. Sometimes he even gets another treat on the way out. He knows how to work the system!
I stayed home passing out candy again. I thought I was better this year, but I guess not. We gave away all our candy and then shut out the lights. We got "booed" this year (someone leaves a treat on your doorstep and leaves a little ghost to hang on your window. You are then supposed to hand out treats to two more families.) Shhhh....don't tell anyone, we never did get around to that! This is the first year that we did not carve pumpkins. We even used white pumpkins several years before it was the "in" thing to do. We used to be trend setters! This year, though, we were just tired. No Halloween decorations except for a little ghost that my friend gave me. Good news, though, with no pumpkin there was no pumpkin smashing!
It makes me a little sad that all of my kids (except Carson) prefer to go trick-or-treating with someone else. They are getting older and their parents are soooo yesterday! Sigh.......
We had a wonderfully fun night, though, and no tears were shed. Oh, and Gary escaped death by pillow yet again because this year he was home for the prep work and he remembered to take pictures! What a dreamboat he is!!
2 comments:
Joey and Carson must be kindred spirits. Joey refused to wear his costume and he likes to run into people's houses as soon as they open the door. Glad you survived Halloween. :)
I have so many opinions of halloween that match yours -- too funny. I thought I was the only one. I DO like to see my kids have fun dressing up, pretty much it.:)
Once again, your post made me smile and laugh, which I needed today.
You are great!
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