I wrote this article for Lori’s Reading Corner.  http://www.lorisreadingcorner.com/

 

Each year my husband and I have a Marital Moment on Halloween night.

Some people’s Marital Moments might involve a negligee, wine, and candles.

Well, none of my negligees fit anymore. I tried to struggle into one of them the other evening and I thought my breathing was going to be cut off. It felt like I was wrapped in a purple python’s grip. Not helpful. So, no negligees.

As for the wine? I very rarely drink.  Alcohol makes me cry, and I don’t need more of that in my life. So, no wine.

Candles I like. So my husband and I set some out.

We climb the stairs to our upstairs bedroom, chuckling as long married couples do, open the door to the attic and …. Pull out our Ghoul Masks!!

Our Ghoul Masks are white with eye holes, surrounded by black. They are crazy scary. I scare myself when I look in the mirror.

We make ghouly sounds to each other, dance around a bit, and embrace our annual Halloween Marital Moment.

Mr. Ghoul and I head out into the cool, star speckled night and sit, oh so quietly, oh so still, in two chairs, on our driveway, and await the Trick or Treaters. Beside us, our house is decorated and spooky.  Our orange pumpkin in the window flashes on and off, the white, wispy cobwebs cover our bushes, and two  plastic skeletons, one without an arm, dangle from our porch.

Halloween is a sweet holiday in many ways. It’s not like Christmas, which takes weeks to plan, buy gifts, decorate, and gain yet another ten pounds from fudge and frosting.

It’s not like Thanksgiving where a turkey must be basted, salads set out, pies bought, stuffing crammed into the bird, a house scrubbed for relatives and friends, and a relatively clean outfit found that does not have stains on it from browning onions.

No, Halloween is easy: Grab a costume, hopefully out of the box in the attic. Invite friends over and have a chili contest. Buy bread, cheese and sour cream. Buy a bag of candy. Send the kids out trick or treating.

And put on your Ghoul Mask.

When the Trick or Treaters arrive we sit real still until the kids are about five feet away, then we BOO them. They think we might be Halloween decorations up until that moment. We NEVER scare the little kids, but the older kids, they are fair game as we bring a little trick into their Halloween.

Each year there’s one kid that says, “I’m not scared of you two. I’ve been here for five (four, three, two) years and I know what you’re going to do.”

We sit, so quiet, not moving, he gets closer and closer and, “BOO!”

He still jumps. Every single year.

We also have a number of visitors, parents and children, from Japan and India who are participating in the trick or treating, which I think is just wonderful.

They bring their cameras and I flash the peace sign. My husband slings an arm around my shoulder as the whole family surrounds the ghouls, smiling, giggling. I’m up nights wondering how many photograph books Mr. Ghoul  and I are in all over the world.

Between Trick or Treaters, I eat the Butterfingers, my husband eats the M and M’s and we talk about serious stuff like: Why do we eat this junk? And, I wish it would stop raining. And, Where are our own children? And, You look sooo hot in your ghoul mask, give me a kiss baby.

The sky is dark, the kids are laughing as they run by. Tonight they are robots, Darth Vaders, angels, firemen, gypsies, and super heroes. They will go home and stuff themselves with candy.

Halloween is a heckuva fun American holiday.

And as for my husband and I?

It’s an excellent Marital Moment.

Happy Halloween to one and all! May your tricks be funny and your treats be yummy.