HALLOWEEN IS COMING

Halloween is my favorite holiday. AND IT'S ALMOST HERE. I would say it's the best holiday, but I don't want to upset all the misguided Christmas fanatics. Mostly I love dressing up, and the fact that it's spooky makes Halloween EVEN BETTER. Of course, we're dressing up for Christmas this year, too (more on that in a couple months), and eventually we'll probably have costumes and parties for even the most minor holiday (tune in next summer for our First Annual Dress as Your Favorite Founding Father Party. I'm already planning my Richard Henry Lee outfit).

Bill and I like to do couples costumes, but not typical ones, like salt and pepper. Last year we went as Rasputin and Bartok:

We went trick-or-treating with our friends and their tiny son and their other parent friends and their kids. We were the only adults dressed up. We were not given any candy.

We went trick-or-treating with our friends and their tiny son and their other parent friends and their kids. We were the only adults dressed up. We were not given any candy.

Another year we were BoJack Horseman and Charlotte the deer:

Again, we went out to a bar with some friends and the four of us were the only ones dressed up - although our one friend went as Notorious RBG, which makes up for everyone else being lame..

Again, we went out to a bar with some friends and the four of us were the only ones dressed up - although our one friend went as Notorious RBG, which makes up for everyone else being lame..

This year we've already gone through four different costume ideas:

  1. Man of Green Gables and HuckleCarrie Finn. This one has been on our costume shortlist for years, and I still want to do it at some point. Something about the idea of Bill in a skimpy wincey dress with a beard and copper-toed boots is just so precious to me. And sort of gross. Plus, I wanted an excuse to buy some overalls.
  2. Fleetwood Mac's Rumours album cover. But for some reason, since he's running for borough council, Bill doesn't fancy the idea of his neighbors seeing him with the clacky balls dangling between his legs. Personally, I think it might get him more votes, but...
  3. "America" by Simon and Garfunkel. I would be Kathy, Bill would be the Man in the Gabardine Suit, and pup would be the greyhound bus. I even bought a copy of the March 1968 issue of Life magazine (Bookends was released in April 1968. THIS IS HOW DEDICATED I AM TO COSTUME DETAILS). Barbarella's on the cover. Even though we decided against this costume, I'm still pretty pumped to have the Barbarella issue.
  4. Bill and the Conjunction Junction conductor from the Schoolhouse Rock videos. This is the one we're actually going with. Bill's been involved with Fair Districts PA, which is trying to end gerrymandering in Pennsylvania, and he wants to wear the costume to one of their events. Plus...he IS just a Bill. I'm going to pull a row of tiny conjunction train cars with behind me, and we're going to fasten a sign on pup that says "D.C. or Bust." It's gonna be hella cute. And you know I don't use the word "hella" lightly.

Should I have waited until after Halloween so that I'd have pictures to accompany this post? Probably. I'M JUST TOO EXCITED. I JUMPED THE GUN. JUMPED RIGHT ON IT. Over it? Away from it? I don't actually know what that expression means.

Anyway.

Now that we have our costumes figured out (hopefully we don't change our minds again over the next month and a half...), I am tasked with decorating the house. From scratch. All we brought with us from our little apartment are an autumn wreath (which sort of got contaminated in the basement this spring) and a porcelain jack-o-lantern Bill calls Mr. Spooks. Since we have a lot going on and a whole bunch of expenses this year, I just want something simple: maybe black velvet bunting under the windows to make the house look like it's in mourning, a spooky wreath, some ravens on the boxwoods, and some black and white pumpkins. The spiders are obligingly crafting cobwebs everywhere they can, so we just haven't cleaned them up for three months. It's not laziness; it's passive decorating. Plus we always carve turnips, which is what they used to do in the Olden Dayes. They are SO MUCH CREEPIER than pumpkins, and now we have a tree out front to hang them from. Like the scariest ornaments you can imagine.

How do you decorate for Halloween? What are some ideas I can steal from you? What are your costume ideas? I want to be nice and say you can borrow any of ours, but...I love them too much to share. I am a costume idea miser. I'm going to make Bill be Man of Green Gables next year, and there's NOTHING HE CAN DO ABOUT IT. 

P.S. - Is it weird that this is turning into sort of a domestic blog? I started out thinking I'd post about writing, but I'm not good at writing about writing unless I'm frustrated by it, and I haven't been frustrated enough lately to generate enough material for a post. I'll work on that.

P.P.S. - I looked it up, and jumping the gun is about starting a race. That's kind of a let down. Especially compared to, say, jumping the shark.

P.P.P.S. - Bonus shot of that time Bill dressed up as Gene from Wet Hot American Summer:

Magnificent.

Magnificent.