That title really is a misnomer, it should be a Mrs. ONG Halloween. Truth be told, I don’t do a damn thing to prepare for, or during the actual day of Halloween.
I may help the kids cross the street while trick or treating and I may help the kids make fair trades with each other once they have collected all their candy on Halloween night. Other than that, not much more from me.
This year we started a tradition of a Halloween dinner for the kids. It starts with a viewing of the legendary and never matched “The Great Pumpkin”
The house is decked out Halloween style, some stuff purchased, some of the kids stuff (with only the best making the cut; some times they make crap, let’s not pull punches here).
Then there is the dinner:
My wife claims it was no big deal and promises bigger and better next year. The kids loved it and I may have loved it even more. Kids don’t forget days like this.
I attempted (key word is attempted) to set up the next event, the pumpkin carving. I figured we would lay out a few blankets in the garage, get some garbage bags, get our carving tools and we would be in business. Here is how it went:
- Blanket unfurled and covered in stink bugs.
- My first attempt to cut off the top of the pumpkin resulted in an incredibly uneven line and I basically cut the poor guy in half.
- Kids get bored because, let’s face it, they can’t really carve unless we make the proper plans for an emergency room visit.
- They knock down tools in the garage while bored, we yell, they want to help more, we say no, they go inside and my wife and I are responsible to complete the task.
We eventually got through it, lit some candles inside the pumpkins, cleaned up and called it a night. The only good photo I could manage was this one:
My wife did that one and also carved a bat in another. They looked good.
Mine. Not so much. Pay close attention to the top of the pumpkin, I can’t even hide how poorly I carved the top. A sad, sad effort indeed.
Happy Halloween
ONG
Well for someone who professes to not do much, you sure did a lot. Now, I truly don’t celebrate this day. Literally. I’d rather it go away quick and make way for my favorite holiday, thanksgiving. Love the eyeballs. Hugs. Tammy
Great fun! and great traditions to have, too. But you’ve got to check out this meat hand at http://www.notmartha.org/archives/2009/10/27/meat-hand/. It’s beyond fantastic.
Looks like you had a lot of fun and made a lot of memories. That whats important.
Well, for someone who doesn’t do much, I’d say that’s alot! Mrs. ONG sure does a great job of making special treats for the family, love all the food…your children will have special memories. Pumpkin carving is a real ‘joy’, when our boys were young, we did let them take a literal stab at it every year, and they managed to keep their body parts intact. Funny thing was, if we gave them knives and carefully supervised them, they were fine. (However, we did have many ER visits unrelated to Halloween, go figure, and lots of stitches.)
Love the jack o’lanterns! Happy Halloween!
Pumpkin Carving=Don’t quit your day job, ONG 😛
I love pumpkin carving. I think this is the first year I haven’t done it in a long time…I had a looooong day at work, and I just said forget it.
Cool pics though, looks like you guys had fun 🙂
Love the pictures! No, there is NOTHING that compares to Charlie Brown’s Halloween!! This was the first year that we let the kids carve their own pumpkins. .and then only because the 2 adults were too exhausted to help. They did a great job!! Ages 12 and 8. Unfortunately, the pumpkin my 8 year old made may possibly be better than yours 🙂 Better luck next year. Send your wife to my blog for some more Halloween ideas for next years meal! I’d say her first stab at it was a success!