Tikkabik

So our favorite family holiday comes at the end of this month. We go for Hallowe'en like most families go for Christmas -- decorations all over the house and yard, weeks of advance planning. The only thing we really wait on to the last minute is candy, and that's because we don't like to have it in the house (willpower and self-denial isn't the Cohen family's strongest suit).

Yesterday we put out the decorations, which we've collected over the years. The holly tree in our front yard has little ghosts hanging from it like fruit, and the bushes are now replete with bloodshot eyeballs and cheery little ghosts. We've staked out some jack o'lantern torches on our front walkway, planted a black cat sign on a stake, and put out a spooky looking candelabra. There are googly eyes staring out from the shrubs, along with jack o'lantern signs that spell out "trick or treat." Our Hallowe'en welcome mat is on the front steps too, and we've hung a big fabric ghost off a planter hook on the porch near the kitchen.

Inside the house gets the treatment, too -- dancing skeleton votive holder and scary jack o'lantern votive candle holders adorn the top of the entertainment center, while strings of lights frame the windows and archway to the kitchen (this year we have Jack Skellington and Zero lights from the Nightmare Before Christmas, and a string of green skeleton lights on the archway). We've also got a bat-light display (a multicolored plastic thing that looks like a bat flapping its wings) suction-cupped to a living room window, and various other trinkets around the house.

Last night we went out for a drive and stopped at a local farm that had haunted hayrides. Emme was a bit scared at first and overreacted, despite loudly demanding (along with the other two kids) that she do this activity, but everyone had a good time. It was just about the perfect time to do it -- we got there for the 6:30 PM ride, just as the sun had set, so we couldn't see what was coming next.

After we got home it was clear that Emme was a bit scared of going down the hallway by herself, because the entrance to the family room, which is adjacent to her bedroom, was dark. The family room adjoins the living room on the other side, so as soon as she was out of side and creeping down the hallway, I put on my glow-in-the-dark hockey mask and went charging through the family room, roaring and clenching my hands.

Yes indeed. I LIVE for this time of year.