This is kind of a follow-up to my last thread about my families indifference to my favorite night of the year, Halloween. After I posted it, I made the apparent mistake of sending an email to my wife and kids and their spouses telling them that I’ve chosen not to “haunt” our son’s home this year and the reasons why I’d made that decision. Holy shit, that was a mistake.
Needless to say, it did not go over well. My wife was pissed, our daughter was surprised, and our son was confused. None of them have any interest in the things that I love, the dark, horror literature and movies, music, or the occult, which is understandable. I’m the family Satanist/Atheist, and they’re all devout believers.
After a phone conversation with our daughter and her brother, and a heated disagreement with my wife, we’ve all come to an understanding. We all need to be better at communicating within our relationships with each other. Point taken
Our son had an idea while we were talking on the phone, we should treat Halloween like we do for Thanksgiving and my least favorite holiday, Christmas. Because both of our kids are married and have both sets of grandparents living locally, we alternate which years we celebrate each holiday together. This year, our daughter and her family will celebrate Thanksgiving with our son-in -law’s parents, and our son and his family will spend it with us.
At Christmas time, we’ll get to spend it with our daughter at their house.
Then we switch holidays the next year. So we agreed that this year, we’ll go to our daughter’s place for dinner(Jack in the box, it’s tradition) and go trick or treating with our younger grandkids for the first time. They’ve never seen one of my “haunts” before, and maybe never will. Then next year, I’ll put on my “haunt” at our son’s home. His daughters are old enough to remember what I did to our house every Halloween, and now they’re old enough to want to help with the preparations and scare the hell out of their friends.
I’m still putting goodie bags together for the grandkids and one for mom and dad to share, and I’ll deliver them on the 31st. I’ll drive up to our son’s house to drop them off, then I’ll go to our daughter’s place.
Now I really have something to look forward to, Halloween night with our daughter’s family next week, and haunting our son’s place with my granddaughters next year. I’ve already got a couple of ideas for next year, and our son said they were willing to give me a budget to help with the cost’s of building some new props(headstones).
Hey Cog, you suggested I wait and give it a year before doing anything that would be permanent(suicide), so I’ll give it a try. I’ll be around for at least another year.