Halloween Scream

Halloween just hasn't been the same since 1984. That was the year I was 12. That was also the year my mother decided 12 was too old to go trick-r-treating! To this day, that is one rule I just don't agree with. Now, 16, 17, 18, yep, too old. Go find something better to do. Adult? Grandma? You bet I've got a pack of raisins for ya! But 12? I was heart broken. I just couldn't believe I wouldn't be allowed to accompany my 3 siblings on the annual candy-grab.
That may actually have also been the year I insisted on being a (get this) DRUID for halloween. What the heck does a druid look like? To me, it was alot like a goth ghost....It involved an old white sheet from a recycled Angel costume, safety pins turned into jewelry and dark eyes. I'm really not sure why safety pins were involved, but I do remember they were a key component to actually being an unmistakable druid and not being taken for a ghost ( a ghost was so childish). I'm turning red with embarrassment as I type this, and suddenly I find it perfectly clear as to why I was not allowed to Trick-r-treat that year...
***I just have to add this little peice of weirdness! My counter hit 1984 for my post about 1984. Spooooooooooky.....LOL

Ding Dong It All Went Wrong

Its that time of year when Bats and Ghosts and mysterious packages of treats accompanied by ill-written poems mysteriously appear at your door. Being new in our neightborhood, we decided to kick off the tradition of door-bell ditching treats since it didn't seem like anybody else was going to do it.
What we didn't know is that 5 year olds were not born knowing how to Door Bell Ditch. Not having been a 5 year old in some time, neither hubby or I realized that a 5 year old needed to be taught the proper way to door bell ditch and were totally unprepared for the following events.
Let M stand for Mom
D for Dad
G for Gabe
L for Lily
(the big girls were not present for this event)

M "Ok, lets head out the door, do we have the treats?"
D "Do we have the poem?"
G "I got it" (heads out the door and books it up the street)
M "Gabe...wait"
D "Gabe...STOP"
G "I'm almost there"
L "Carry Me"
M "Gabe STOP!"
D "Gabe, get back here"
L "Carry Me"
G "I'm looking both ways!"...crosses street
M (whisper screaming now so as not to bring the whole neighborhood out) "Gabe,WAIT FOR US"
G approaches door, places box on porch, runs away.
D "Gabe, you have to go back and ring the door bell and THEN run away and HIDE
M "Try it again, and take the poem with you this time"
G "OK"
L "Carry Me"
G runs up to door, rings bell, knocks on door, runs away, hides behind bush, waits for door to open, hops out from behind bush and SCREAMS "SUUUUUUUUURPRIIIIIIIIISE!"
Then proceeds to run away in circles screaming, "Mom, Dad, Mom, Dad! Where are you? I think I"m lost!"
Neighbor "Gabe, where are your parents"
M & D coming out of their hiding places with Lily in tow ( who amazingly was totally silent while being held in a horizontal hanging position from moms arm while squatting behind a bush) "Gabe, you are the WORST Burgler in all of history!"

Obviously we had to go explain all of this to our neighbor friends who were totally confused by this whole transaction, them never having heard of getting "ghosted" "spooked" "Tricked" or any other form of Halloween prank that involves door-bell ditching. It was too much fun, and I came to realize, that a son who's bad at sneaking is a good son to have!