Halloween Die-ary #17
I think we packed a week of Halloween into tonight. And not
by overstuffing the suitcase and sitting on top of it. Just naturally. Every
once in a while, you get into a pumpkin groove where the season feels like a
lifestyle and a special occasion all at once.
After work, we went out to get our October pumpkins. We have
September pumpkins already. Those orange globes are just used to decorate the
outside of the house with and are grabbed from the It’s the Great Pumpkin,
Charlie Brown bins at the nearest grocery store. But our October pumpkins,
those are for breathing life into by sticking a knife into. Those, we go to the
farm for.
I think we’ve gotten lazier about getting our October pumpkins
over the years. Well, lazy might not be the right word. But I think it’s gone
from a carefully experienced ritual to a streamlined process. I think that’s because there are five of us
now. And we need to find five pumpkins. And we need to do it while three of us
(me, the infant, and the six-year-old) are distracted by the free-range
chickens running around and those cutouts that you stick your head through and
every scarecrow on the property.
But that’s what we did, drove through the foliage (and all
the political signs marring the scenery), slid into one of our many local
farms, chased some chickens, took a few shots with the giant hay man, filled a
wagon full of pumpkins, and then headed home, where we set them in Big Face’s
patch in the corner.
That should have been the end of the Halloweenery. But it
kept going.
 |
| I am that lonely haunted house sign amidst all the political ones. |
I didn’t know it, but Lindsey had bought Halloween ravioli
for dinner. They were shaped and colored like orange pumpkins and black bats.
Well, a black bat. Apparently, we got an unbalanced package. So after fighting
over that black bat, we ate while watching Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the
Wolfman.
And I guess that should have been the Halloweenery.
But right about the time that Alvin and Simon decide to investigate
the guy next door with the wolf-headed cane to see if he’s a werewolf (Munks
on a Mission song), I remembered that I had seen all over the socials that Dunkin’
Donuts was releasing a Spicy Ghost Pepper Donut for Halloween today. I brought
it up, and the girls immediately wanted to go out and get one “Come on, Dad,
we’ll go out, look for Halloween decoration, get a Halloween donut. You can
write about it on your website or something.” They’re all under eleven and
already know how to manipulate me.
So we got three Spicy Ghost Pepper Donuts and had a Spicy
Ghost Pepper Donuts challenge. Lindsey reacted a little to the heat, it was
fine for me (I never eat anything that doesn’t have hot sauce on it…even
salads), my 11-year-old felt went immediately to the fridge for milk, and my six-year-old
started screaming and running around and pathetically trying to climb the
counters because she can’t reach the glasses. It was pretty funny.
And I guess that should have been the end of the Halloweenery.
A dash of trick with our treats.
And it basically was. Me and Lindsey wound down the rest of
the night with a bottle of mead and the second half of Books of Blood
(some great and disturbing ideas, but awkwardly structured and paced), and then
topped that off with an episode of The X-Files (the one with the Golem).
Like I said, sometimes it feels like a lifestyle and a special celebration all at once.
