November 1: Blessings On It, Chocolate Blessings, Halloween Blessings

...Blessings on it, how the Ghost exulted!  How it bared its breadth of breast, and opened its capacious palm, and floated on, out-pouring, with a generous hand, its bright and harmless mirth on everything within its reach...

Chocolate blessings

I love this passage about the Ghost of Christmas Present.  Of course, the Ghost of Christmas Present is the ghost voted most likely to succeed out of Dickens' three yuletide spirits.  Aside from those two creepy little kids hanging out under his robes, he seems like a fun spirit to party with.  And he blesses everyone and everything he sees.

Last night, the Ghost of Halloween Present blessed me.  Yes, it was cold.  Yes, it took me over an hour to apply my daughter's makeup.  And yes, we got a late start on trick-or-treating.  But we had a great time, and, as you can tell by the picture, my kids made a great haul.  That is a full-size Baby Ruth spilling out of the pumpkin.  We have three more pumpkins full of Halloween spoils.  It was a good night, and I really felt blessed.

Half-way through the evening, I forgot about how cold I was, how the Milky Ways were freezing solid in the plastic pumpkins.  I enjoyed seeing my kids run from house to house.  Actually, my daughter skipped.  My son sort of plodded because he was wearing snow boots.  They were both the best little ghouls in the world.

On this Blessing Thursday, I am going to end with a picture of the two biggest blessings of my life.  My little dragon and my little Sally from A Nightmare Before Christmas.  Yes, they drive me crazy sometimes, and I was ready to leave my son out in the cold at certain points of our All Hallow's Eve adventure.  But they are the greatest joys I have.

Saint Marty is now going to eat a chocolate blessing he stole from his son's pumpkin.

My Halloween blessings



October 31: Halloween Preparations, Makeup, Chocolate Blessings

My daughter's pumpkin

I am nearing the time that my night of freezing Halloween frolic begins.  In a few hours, I will be elbow-deep in Halloween preparations.  My first duty will be to apply my daughter's makeup.  She is trick-or-treating as the character Sally from A Nightmare Before Christmas.  My daughter found a video on the Internet of a girl doing Sally's makeup, and she has been obsessed ever since.  I practiced doing the makeup on Monday night.  It was an abysmal failure, but I did learn what not to do.  This afternoon will be my second and last chance to get it right.  Funny thing is, the girl who does it in the video makes it look so freakin' easy.  It sort of ticks me off.

Again, since this is Worry Wednesday, I am allowed to say that I am not looking forward to tromping through the cold and snow tonight.  Here is my prediction:  my son will last about one block, and my daughter will be complaining within five minutes.  But, dammit, it's Halloween, and there is free chocolate to be had.  If I spend forty or fifty minutes painting my daughter's face, she will be going door-to-door, even if Hurricane Sandy sends a tidal wave our way.  There will be no excuses.

Tomorrow is Blessing Thursday.  I hope to be able to post a picture of my kids' Halloween bounty, and my percentage of their Halloween bounty.  I'm a little picky, however.  I don't like Smarties or Tootsie Rolls or Mary Janes.  No.  I always felt a little ripped off when I ended up on Halloween with that ilk of candy when I was a kid.

No, no.  The Bank of Saint Marty only accepts chocolate blessings as payment.  Milk chocolate and caramel and nougat.  Without nuts, preferably.  Coconut, absolutely forbidden.