A sampling of a Happy Halloween home

Here is a view of a section of the dining room, taken from the stairs. That's a lot of gauze. Ralph, our dog, normally sleeps right in front of the breakfront (the piece of furniture below the mirror) but for the party he was staying at doggie daycare (where he had significant playtime with other dogs.)

The dining room chairs were moved to the living room and covered to provide extra seating. I sat in the armed chair to do the Tarot readings. That's also the spot where I sit to do most of my postings. It is private yet keeps me in the action of the family versus being locked away in the office upstairs.

Like most families, we have a coffin in our living room for the holiday. A skeleton holding a beating heart rises from it with red lighting to make even eerier.

That's my cigar chair in the background, though I only use it for reading.

The living room was lit with black flourescents and flickering red lamps.

The flash really detracts from the scarier aspects of the decor. The headstones in front of the hearth (gas logs unfortunately) glowed red around the lettering.

An apothecary table is to the right with a large ghoul flying above it.

The TV rests on the mantle above where The Corpse Bride played for the latter half of the party.


One of the centerpieces of the ridiculous amount of snacks was this human brain. The zombie kids loved it.

This gelatinous lump was made of Jello-O and evaporated milk with a little food coloring to give it that realistic color. Like we would know.

Human brain tastes like peaches by the way.

Jocelyn did a great job with all of this and the kids loved it. There is nothing like a party to test the bonds of matrimony and the power of your innate happiness.

I think we did just fine.

The morning after

Our two children, plus 15 others ranging from 10 to 13 years old, plus the occasional parent or two were at our house from 6:50 pm until 10:15 last night.

We had decorated practically every surface of the first floor. One of the ten year olds told my son that we "over decorated." I didn't disagree, but it looked great. Nothing was too cartoony. It was all geared to be mildly creepy.

We made or purchased far too much food.

The kids were in and out of the house. There was an episode where a 5th grader in a Luigi costume (think Mario Bros.) attacked a 7th grader, dressed as Nikki Blonsky from Hairspray, with his plunger. She screamed an 80s horror movie scream and I was sure the local police would be stopping by. (Coincidentally, Luigi won the Funniest Costume award, and Nikki won the Prettiest Costume award.)

We had a couple of contests, including trying to keep an emotionless face while drinking Lemon Drop Dead and Strawberry Slime from Jones Soda. That was good for a lot of laughs. Those drinks were sour.

We did a few Tarot readings, mainly the 5th graders. The 7th graders piled on the furniture and tested the limits of my home theater system with The Corpse Bride. Toward the end of the party they finally took an immense interest in receiving a Tarot reading, but by then it was too late to accommodate them.

Everyone had a great time. They all left with gift coffins and bags of treats.

We finally turned everything off (well, most everything, I was still turning off screaming ghouls outside this morning) and got to bed by midnight or so.

I slept until 7:45. Everyone else slept till nearly 11. It was a good party. Photos coming soon as our lives return to normal.

We'll never do it again.