Leslie and her son, Tyler (10)

MY HALLOWEEN OBSESSION

- Leslie McMorrow, Contributing Writer

My obsession with Halloween started when my son Tyler was in uterus…yes, before he was even born!  As soon as I was given my end-of-October forty week due date, my head started spinning on what great birthday parties he would have.  

I had it all planned with visions of little goblins floating in my head.  We could start with the old fashioned bobbing for apples, then carve pumpkins using all the Martha Stewart stencils and then march around the courtyard for a kiddy costume parade.  All while the parents could be indulging in some ghoulish chili and boo-berry pies.

The decorations became a full time job for the month of October.  Images of scary crows in bleak Manzanita trees...what great silhouettes they would cast at night with creepy skull candles glowing all around.  What?   Michaels ran out of Manzanita branches??  Where can I cut down the nearest tree without getting arrested?  How far is Joshua Tree? 

What I found out after about the first three parties was that my son hated Halloween – all the other party toddlers loved the annual festivities, but not Tyler.  He would tear off his costume after five minutes and smear all the makeup on his face.  Every birthday snap shot he looks like a psycho superhero.  While trick-or-treating, he became petrified by the scary masks that the older kids would wear and to top it all off, he could care less about the candy after it was all sorted into piles.  Candy Schmandy!  His Halloween fear manifested beyond the holiday - never wanting to go on the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland – no waltzing ghosts in the cavernous non-living room.  Now that really killed me!

The good news is that neither one of us went into therapy over my Halloween obsession.  Each year, I still buy at least one great decoration for the house.  It’s never too scary and the witch is always smiling.  At least I know why she is really smiling…. She’s probably brewing up something for that magical night ahead!