LesAtkins.com

Halloween 2005

My wife and I have decided that Halloween is pretty much our favorite holiday of the year except for Christmas. We love to decorate and dress up for it. This year, we planned for our biggest display ever and we pulled it off with flying colors. By the first weekend in October we were in full swing with out decorations. We had a grave yard, large spider webs and spiders, jack-o-lanterns, blacklights, skeletons, a fog machine, glow-in-the dark webbing, strobe lights and more. We were ready. Then I went outside on the second Saturday in October and what do I find? A lot less than I found the night before. Our cemetery, a skeleton, a large jack-o-lantern, and a six-foot spider web and spider had been stolen! What a disappointment. Obviously somebody was in desperate need of some styrofoam tombstones and a few other Halloween decorations and thought I had plenty to spare. The theiving ingrates.

Anyway…
We replaced some of the tombstones and the jack-o-lantern and our decorations were once again looking good. Halloween came and we were ready. While my wife took the kids out into the neighborhood for the customary candy-begging ritual I stayed at the house with a couple of friends and lay in wait for other trick-or-treaters. We kicked the fog machine into high-gear and the stage was set. We definitely had a record number of visitors for our neighborhood and the scary scene had the desired effect on the trick-or-treaters. We were a hit!

A quick testament to the society we live in today. I opened the front door to another batch of trick-or-treaters and the first thing out of one of the mothers standing there was “I hope you have insurance. I just go so scared I fell down and hurt my knee on your stairs.” The first thing that pops in my head (although I did not say it) was “Woman, if you are so afraid that you fall down the stairs at my house while trying to beg candy from me as your kids stand there and wonder what in the world is wrong with you, then you should not be trick-or-treating.” followed by “There you go lady, teach the kids to sue other people every time you look like an idiot.” The five-year-olds that were with her managed to survive my front steps. Some people…

Aside from that the evening went well. I look forward to our outdoing ourselves next year.

Check out pictures of the Halloween decorations here