Halloween

I hate to disappoint you, but these are the only two members of the family that wore a costume this year.

David has always taken an Australian stance on my American Halloween, which is to play along with the costumes, and the pumpkin carving, and the apple-bobbing, acknowledging that it is fun for everyone else to don a Nixon mask and walk around making the peace sign, but also standing outside it and silently mocking us crazy Americans and declining to actually participate in it.

He would say things like, No, no, you go ahead and wear the full-length gorilla costume...You look better in it than I do. It's great, go for it. I'll just stand here and nurse this beer and tell you how cool you look, but inside my head, I'll be like so happy that's not me. Because I'm Australian. I talk funny, but at least I'm not wearing that ridiculous gorilla costume.

Or something like that.


See, David - and Australians of a certain age - didn't have Halloween, didn't dress in costume, and run house to house begging the neighbors for candy and then, spending the rest of the night, dumping it all out on the floor and picking out the absolute best candies there, and slagging off the neighbors that gave us cheap candy or green lollipops, and stuffing chocolate in our mouths before our parents cut us off, and forced us to bed with taffy and Smarties still stuck to our cheeks. He could have no idea how much fun that was.


But watching the girls fuss over their costume choices (Lucy was Bat Girl and Edie was Alice in Wonderland, in case that's not obvious) and peeling around the neighborhood, staring into their bags to see if people gave them good shit, and then, marching through the streets during the Halloween parade, while thousands of people watched from the sidewalks and then, drew up all their courage to walk through the super-scary haunted house, well, that changed everything.

On the way home last night while he was sneaking miniature Snickers bars from the girls bags when they weren't looking, and I think inspired by the thousands of costumes that people put effort into, David said that next year we should go as a costumed unit, like four characters from the girls favorite book or the Adams Family or whatever, but something that requires advance preparation, thought, care and concern, a family consensus...like that is even possible.

He went on for a half hour about how elaborate we could be, how we could plan it out and start weeks in advance. The kids were stuffing blow pops in their mouths and yelling out suggestions.

I see my future. Morticia Adams. Better start planning that now.

xo YM