Mandatory, in a Good Way

Here it is, good people of earth. The Halloween post!

Jeff's company always does a big Halloween shindig, "closing down" the office to open it for all the employees' families to trick-or-treat. It's a very family oriented company (Ancestry.com -- makes sense), and this is one of several great parties they throw annually.

Bridgette and I got tons of attention for our elaborate, somewhat attention-seeking costumes. We think we're adorable. Actually, Bridgette didn't know what to think, got completely brain-overloaded, and slept really well that night. Woot! Woot!

We typically do a family theme for Halloween. Lest you think we are Mary and her little lamb, we're actually Little Bo Peep and her little sheep. Jeff was going to be a wolf, but his head was too big for the mask.

Someday soon Bridgette will be picking out her own costume, and if she's lucky, I won't dress to match unless she wants me too. If she's lucky...


Most departments put up a mini-spook house or other appropriately themed Halloweeny area. This photo was taken in the black-light swamp, rendered by the Sites programmers. The swamp actually had water (which I heard someone fell into when startled by the little swamp creature).

Our sis-in-law Heidi took this picture for us, and it will forever remind me of Bridgette trying to brush the glow off of her lamb costume. Very funny.


Halloween night Jeff and I hosted a murder mystery party - enter guests, stage left to right:

Megan as Glumda, the Wicked Witch of DePressed
Russ as Hannibal Schecter the Kosher Cannibal
Jeff as The Mummy of King Aldrinktothat
Krystal as Angela Deth, D.D.S.
Curtis as Balihi, The Rogers-And-Hammerstein Monster
Kelly as Lizzie Bordeaux
Cossette as Aretha Garlique
Richie as Asthmadeus, The Prince of Dimness

It was a fun night of dinner, questioning, and accusations. Bridgette hung out in her witch shirt until bedtime. She began the evening wearing pants, but soiled them beyond relief. Actually, she soiled all the black trousers she owns, namely, four pair.


Decorating the house was fun. I don't like overly cutesy items, nor do I like gore. Thus the bat and spider theme. (Our giant spider, Boris, has been featured in past entries and is not profiled here.)

For your viewing pleasure, a few decorations (not including the various black textiles draped on windows, in entryways, and over furniture). It looked spookier in the dimness of evening, lit only by lamps and candles.

We had orange lights up in the greenery. We also hung heavy cobwebs on our two ceiling fans and had spiders dangling from them.

The remains of dinner. The candles burned down throughout the evening, and one of the candelabras caught fire during Round 3 of our murderous night. I was glad I saw it before it lit the tablecloth, subsequently the table, subsequently the house on fire. Or burned any cookies.

And this is just for fun. I was laughing about how different my two costumes were. Here's a comparison.