...the morning after...

ah, well...it's over.
it sorta came and went with far less fanfare than previous years -- and you figure -- halloween is what it is because of the hype. so at 6pm when you realized the doorbell is starting to ring and you haven't put your makeup on yet or figured out what in the world you're wearing...you anticipate it'll be a "get what you put into it" sorta night.

but we were RAIDED like a stampede of rabid rhinos.
our house is being covered and broadcast on BBC.
we were on the cover of the local paper.
we had well over 500 kids mob us ...and easily 75 kids at ONCE on our sidewalks waiting for the spider-lady to give them candy. (clarification: i was not spider lady. lara was spider lady. that would have taken forethought. but i was some sort of dead person. i have to ask lara again -- she was the brains behind my 'costume.')
it was insane.
we feared for the smallest children's lives. like...it was faintly reminiscent of a reenactment of the running of the bulls in spain. mob-scene. but in the american ghetto.

come to think of it, i don't really know what p-chiddy was either. his face was all black...his eyes were white. and he was dressed in black. nobody recognized him and he almost got himself kicked out of the bbq down the street b/c he was mistaken for a random teenager who came to crash a halloween cookout. janet the hostess was literally like, "HEY YOU....GET OUT...YOU YOU....WHO ARE YOU..."
of course chiddy froze...and revealed his identity and we laughed for the rest of the night.

here's the downside of being REALLY good at halloween.
the kids are ungrateful.
the kids have higher and more lofty expectations every year....
the kids...are impressed...but already know what to anticipate.
now if you remember, last year, chiddy was the scary dude in the bushes.
we made kids scrrream out of shock. he scared them to pieces...even the adults. high fives all around. we talked about it for 12 months. we drew straws on who would go in the bushes again. it was unanimous that p-chid would be the bush-monster. even though he didn't draw the shortest straw. he never stood a chance.

well, i have to tell ya -- it's NOT AS FUN scaring kids when they already KNOW he's going to be there! as chad was chowing down on the burger he escaped with as he was booted from the bbq, the kids would cautiously approach and hold their breath....and peer into the bushes.....

"...aaaaw maaan....c'mon!"
and they'd put their grubby little hands on their hip and complain.
"...what the @$#!? WHERE BE DA SCERRY BRO' IN DA BUSHES??!..."

....you've got to be kidding me.
we all turned to puff....with our disapproving eyes.....heads bobbing...
"GET IN THE BUSHES CHAD. gosh dangit....you're letting the KIDS DOWN."

had the 'hood parents not been standing there, expected candy as well, chuggin' on their 40's...holding out their trash bags for candy, we would have scolded the little dirty, ungrateful, under-dressed munchkins about how they should be as happy as piggies rolling in slop, for whatever effort we put into the decor of our home. all around, we knew our words would fall on deaf ears. we'd just throw tootsie pops at them and get them on their way.

at any rate -- it was smashing.
time for photo montage.


we had the smoke machine. we fought over who got to press the lever. it makes this hissing sound that scares the beegee's out of ..well....everybody.



without fail, our neighbor takes things just too darn far. but you would NEVER believe what a PHOTO-OP our side lawn was. every parent that saw it made their kids sit next to it...."go sit next to the skull and try not to catch your wig on fire with the candles and...SMILE." who knew.



this giraffe, my friends, was our first trickertreater. i swooned. his cheeks were pinched nearly a million times. HE WAS SO FLIPPING CUTE and we surprisingly didn't terrify him. i mean, we didn't TRY...but even so, we still have a negative impact on babies. this one, smiled and stared in awe. well-played little giraffe, well-played. when you grow teeth, you'll appreciate that we gave you the best candy in our cauldron.



that was puff before bush-duty.
dreading it. dreading it. dreading it.
it takes the first few initial screams to really get your blood flowin'.



you may remember the skeleton with bunny ears. in the neighbors car. behind the driver's seat. would you believe me if i told you somebody STILL managed to break into the car -- skeleton driver and all -- a few days ago? :::shaking head:::




this year-- our work was the best ever. BEST EVER. TELL ME you wouldn't want to come to our house if you were a grubster.



Run of the Grubbies. please note the scary clown with a white face in the background -- staring at me. cripes. these kids are no joke. or wait. they may be an adult.





check out one of our youngest trickertreaters!!!
BUMBLE-BEE SCHMIDDY!
yall. it's blurry. get over it. she's a squirmer!!! please note the crushed animal crackers that missed her mouth. but she was A DOLL....and considering it was probably past bedtime....happy to be out on the town. thanks for coming by!!!



unbeknownst to me...i was been given orders to look scary. i missed the memo.



memo arrived. claws out. but i couldn't stop laughing.



there we go. too bad that's JUST ABOUT how i look every morning. yeesh.



and yes, here's our captive, impoverished victim, overlooking the action from his chains in the bell tower.

and that's it folks!!!
all in all it was a fun night...and it's interesting. even when things aren't THAT grande....it's a tradition. and i love tradition. i love the thought of tradition. the moments in life that you create that become fond memories for a life time. and your mind has a weird way of only retaining the warm familiarity of the tradition. which drives you to do it again...and again....and again.....
you don't remember the money spent on the ingredients for thanksgiving dinner.
or the time it takes to make everything.
or the fact that there's a monster pile of dishes to clean afterward.
or the hated turkey sandwiches you're forced to eat for an eternity.
no.
you remember the family gathering.
the laughing.
the crisp air and the smell of cinnamon.

and i guess that's how this night has become to us.....more or less a tradition that though it takes ALOT OF TIME...and alot of money....and alot of tear-down....it wouldn't be FALL without it. and so...until next year.... happy halloween :)

there was also a more somber tradition that i realized i had unintentionally started.
i couldn't quite put my finger on it....until it was halfway through the night and i was heating up apple cider, alone, in the "bell tower."
this faint sense of naive giddiness kept floating through my mind....what is it allison? what is it?
as i stirred the bubbling cider over the warm stove in the dimly lit kitchen ...it dawned on me with the weight of a million bricks....

....it was this night, exactly one year ago, that i took my very first ovulation predictor test.....
the laughter of a newbie trying to get pregnant...the freshness of delight and the thought of all the greatness the next year would hold. getting a positive and running around the house showing it to chad....my little secret. my perfect little plan. my heart pregnant with hope, even though i no clue my body never would be, this past year.

would you believe me if again, on halloween this year....on the exact day....it was time for another OPK. it was positive again. oh how the tides have changed...

please, God, let next year be different....