THIS is Halloween!
Reading at Mental Multivitamin I found a post that inspired me to write one of my own: A tribute to Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas.
When my boys were 5 and 3, and my daughter only a fond wish, DH looked at me a few days before Halloween and said, "You remember how much we enjoyed The Nightmare Before Christmas when we saw it a few years back? I think the boys would love to see it, too." And I, fuzzy of memory for what was in the film, said, "Sure!"
So we all piled in the car and headed to Blockbuster (this was in our pre-Netflix days, mind you) and came home with a video. We popped our corn, plopped onto the couch, and hit "play."
About halfway through, DH and I are trading worried glances over and behind the boys' heads. We had forgotten about the screaming pumpkins and the scary ghoulies popping out from under beds. But the boys seemed not to mind, and we didn't want to ruin the mood, so we kept going.
When Santa is kidnapped and the mischievous goblins start torturing him, I reached for the remote control. DH stopped me silently, mouthing, "Just wait," and I deferred.
When Jack and his "Christmas presents" start scaring little kids all over town and the townspeople start firing rocket launchers at him, I just covered my eyes and prayed silently, "Oh, please, Lord, let them sleep tonight!"
And when the movie was over, my tender three year old son, who cried pitifully when the Karate Kid got a bloody nose and gave other kids his Happy Meal toys so that no one would feel left out - my sensitive son - looked at me solemnly and said,
"I. LOVE. THIS. MOVIE!"
And then he and his brother went stomping through the house shouting, "THIS is Halloween! THIS is Halloween! Pumpkins SCREAM in the dead of night!" And later, after the fifteenth or so viewing, they bellowed, "I am the one hiding under your STAIRS! Fingers like SNAKES and SPIDERS in my hair!" Then they giggled gleefully and started all over again.
So when dear, sweet daughter turned three, her brothers decided her time had come. She, too, was tragically exposed to talking skeletons and Santa-torture and spidery hair.
And she too, laughed gleefully and asked to see it "A-GAY-AN!"
Now we all know the words to This is Halloween and we sing them as we trick-or-treat. Well, we did until the boys got old enough to run away and not be seen looking like dorks trick-or-treating with their parents. But, thank Sandy Claws, they are not too old to watch Nightmare Before Christmas with us one more time.
Thank you, Jack Skelligan, for making my Halloween memories spidery-sweet.
When my boys were 5 and 3, and my daughter only a fond wish, DH looked at me a few days before Halloween and said, "You remember how much we enjoyed The Nightmare Before Christmas when we saw it a few years back? I think the boys would love to see it, too." And I, fuzzy of memory for what was in the film, said, "Sure!"
So we all piled in the car and headed to Blockbuster (this was in our pre-Netflix days, mind you) and came home with a video. We popped our corn, plopped onto the couch, and hit "play."
About halfway through, DH and I are trading worried glances over and behind the boys' heads. We had forgotten about the screaming pumpkins and the scary ghoulies popping out from under beds. But the boys seemed not to mind, and we didn't want to ruin the mood, so we kept going.
When Santa is kidnapped and the mischievous goblins start torturing him, I reached for the remote control. DH stopped me silently, mouthing, "Just wait," and I deferred.
When Jack and his "Christmas presents" start scaring little kids all over town and the townspeople start firing rocket launchers at him, I just covered my eyes and prayed silently, "Oh, please, Lord, let them sleep tonight!"
And when the movie was over, my tender three year old son, who cried pitifully when the Karate Kid got a bloody nose and gave other kids his Happy Meal toys so that no one would feel left out - my sensitive son - looked at me solemnly and said,
"I. LOVE. THIS. MOVIE!"
And then he and his brother went stomping through the house shouting, "THIS is Halloween! THIS is Halloween! Pumpkins SCREAM in the dead of night!" And later, after the fifteenth or so viewing, they bellowed, "I am the one hiding under your STAIRS! Fingers like SNAKES and SPIDERS in my hair!" Then they giggled gleefully and started all over again.
So when dear, sweet daughter turned three, her brothers decided her time had come. She, too, was tragically exposed to talking skeletons and Santa-torture and spidery hair.
And she too, laughed gleefully and asked to see it "A-GAY-AN!"
Now we all know the words to This is Halloween and we sing them as we trick-or-treat. Well, we did until the boys got old enough to run away and not be seen looking like dorks trick-or-treating with their parents. But, thank Sandy Claws, they are not too old to watch Nightmare Before Christmas with us one more time.
Thank you, Jack Skelligan, for making my Halloween memories spidery-sweet.
posted by Mamabird @ 10:12 PM
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