They're Coming To Get You, Barbara

Halloween is not my favorite holiday. Yes, I know some people really get into it with the scary decorations and the skeletons and the ghosts and the well, you get the point. I never really liked being scared, unlike my husband, who has seen every scary movie ever made.

When we first started dating and into the early years of our marriage, I tried to be accommodating. Once or twice a year I would agree to watch something he wanted to watch. I guess people need a break from romcoms. (I don't know why?)

We started out slow. I can do the black and white Bela Lugosi movies and of course, if you're from Pittsburgh, you have to have Night of the Living Dead on your 'Have Seen' list. I am proud to say I know one of the zombies from the film, he was a co-worker of my husband, and I worked with the legendary Bill Cardille (Chilly Billy), who played the news reporter. I could not brag about these unless I saw the movie.

As scared as I was to watch the film, the part that came after made seeing the movie even more memorable. My husband, despite loving a good horror flick, can be easy to scare. As we laid in bed, in the dark, about to fall asleep, I uttered, in the most chilling voice I could mutter, one of the classic lines from the film, "They're coming to get you, Barbara." He jumped out of bed so quick. My roaring laughter for the next 15 minutes made the whole night worthwhile.

When I was little, I remember one Halloween when our neighbor decided to get into the spirit of the holiday. He was an older gentleman and didn't mean any harm, but he was able to scare the pants off of the young family next door. A short time after trick or treating was over, he snuck onto our front porch with a skeleton head with glowing eyes. I guess he had the head attached to something he could move up and down because the head went from the front window to the three diamond shaped windows on the top of our front door.

My mom called my dad, who was working night turn, and explained what had happened, basically looking for comfort. At the time, she had two kids under 7 plus a baby and was pretty worked up. The next day my dad got to the bottom of it and let's just say this neighbor kept his tricks to himself in the future.

But being scared has never been part of our family Halloween celebration. It is about carving the cute pumpkins, smiley ghost decorations and tame costumes. I think the scariest character my kids have chosen to be for Trick or Treat is Dracula. That was one of my favorite costumes because my oldest was young enough to want to still dress like his dad. The two were a fang-tastic team which made singing and acting out the following lines from the Monster Mash even more meaningful: "The zombies were having fun. The party had just begun. The guests included Wolf Man, Dracula and his son."

My youngest still has Halloween parties at  school and I continue to dig out the token witch costume I've worn three years in a row. It has cute green and black stripey tights, pointy hat and black dress. What lady over 40 turns down the chance to wear a slimming black dress? I choose not to show off the grey strands of hair that are attached to the hat. I have natural grays baby. I don't need any help in that department.

I do dress up to hand out candy on Halloween night. My husband takes our kids around the neighborhood and I mingle with the Trick or Treaters. I have had my sights on a family costume theme, but this has never seemed to work out. We did come close years ago when we did characters from the Cartoon Channel show Adventure Time. We had a baby Jake the dog, Beemo, Marceline, The Vampire Princess, and I was the Flame Princess. My husband, who was supposed to be Finn, worked downtown and had to navigate through rush hour traffic. By the time he arrived on the scene, Trick or Treat hours were almost over and meltdowns were in full effect.

Ever since, I have tried to get everyone on board but now that my oldest is 16, he does not want any part of it. My daughter has approached me to see if we can team up and I am considering it. I think she feels sorry for me not getting my wish, but I guess I'll take what I can get. With only a few days left to come up with a costume, the clock is ticking. Her initial idea was Ursula and Ariel from The Little Mermaid. I think with a red wig, green pants and construction paper sea shells across my chest, I might be able to pull this off.