Ten Halloweens

I really love that the creepy butler Dennis bought for Halloween this year totally photobombed our family photo.

This year marks Punky’s TENTH Halloween, so in lieu of a post about slutty Halloween costumes, whether or not teenagers should be trick or treating, or the fact that most neighborhoods in my area are celebrating Halloween tomorrow night because the weather today is totally crappy, I present to you… TEN HALLOWEENS IN THE LIVES OF THE FERRIER FAMILY.

Brace yourselves.

Thank God Pinterest wasn’t around when Punky was a baby. I felt no pressure to craft an actual costume for her out of upcycled vintage fabric and PVC pipe- Instead, I just used a tie-dyed baby t-shirt someone gave me and whatever else I could find in her wardrobe to complete the “look.” The result- Well, it wasn’t that great. Pinterest definitely would NOT have approved.

The next year wasn’t much better. Punky, as I recall, had no interest in wearing a costume. I think the cowboy hat and bandana stayed on for all of five minutes. It didn’t matter anyway. When you’re little, you pretty much get anything you want, costume or not.

This was Punky’s first year really trick-or-treating. She’d walk up to the door, say “trick or treat,” accept candy… and then just stand there. She hadn’t really thought out an exit strategy.

This was my worst Halloween EVER. Dennis’s liver mysteriously failed that week, and we didn’t know that night if it was going to get better or completely stop working. He was jaundiced and very sick. And that smile on my face? Totally fake. I remember trick or treating with the kids that night and being so angry at all the couples around us who seemed tired and slightly irritated with each other. I felt like they had NO IDEA how lucky they were to be together and in good health. I’ve never forgotten that feeling.

Fortunately, Dennis recovered completely and the next Halloween was much better. I think these were my favorite costumes of all time. I have a ton of photos of the kids dressed up as Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion and they’re all hilarious. Definite blackmail material for the teen years.

I totally whipped up these costumes out of stuff we already had. Uh… You can’t tell, can you?

This marked the first year the kids were both old enough to choose their own costumes. It gets fairly predictable from here on out.

Strawberry Shortcake and Boba Fett…

A witch and Captain America…

And this year– Darth Vader and … well, she just liked the dress. I told her to tell everyone she’s a Lannister from Game of Thrones, but she just looked at me like I was crazy.

Happy Halloween, everyone!