Holy crap.  It is halfway through September.  Where does the time go?  Many a year ago, I would turn the page on the calendar to August, and one word would cross my mind…

Halloween.

I would plan costumes in August, hunt for supplies in September and assemble in October.

I love Halloween.

You see, I’m tremendously geeky, yet not so geekish that my geekdom requires me to fashion and don costumes the other 364 days each year a-la Comic Con or Dragon Con, or ComicCon Con, or whatever other Con you can think of.  I wish I had that much free time and capital.  So my creativity gets channeled into one day.

Nathan used to fight me tooth and nail about Halloween.  I would beg him all year round to fulfill my costume fantasies – not THOSE kind of costumed fantasies, because lets face it; dressing up as Mystery Incorporated (The Scooby Doo gang) isn’t sexy in the least.  Unless maybe you dress up like Daphne.  But I’m no Daphne, and Nathan is neither Fred nor Shaggy.

One year, he caved.  Jessica and Roger Rabbit.  Costume success.  Though many of the younger party-goers had no idea who we were.  After the Rabbits, the seal had been broken, and we ushered in matching troll dolls, Ghostbuster characters and the cast of Toy Story…  (You can see our Halloween yearbook here.)

Now I have two kids – hence zero time for planning ahead.  Last year worked out pretty well.  Finn now has 89% control over what he’ll be, though I have total veto-power.  Alice went as Wonder Woman and her costume was adorable.  But as many ten-month-olds, she had little hair at the time and looked more like a random patriot once it was on.

Finn chose to be a robot, and I’ll be damned if I let an opportunity to bedazzle something with twinkle lights pass me by.  His costume was off the fa-shizzle.  (Or whatever the hip cats of today are saying.)

A few years back he was Spiderman – this year he wanted to be Spidey again, but I urged him to think of something a little more original (something that allowed me to selfishly spread my creative wings beyond stitching miles of webbing into polar fleece again).  He came up with Venom, wich is really just an all-black Spiderman.  I begged him to be Jack Skellington.  He would have none of that.  How cute would this have been??

Finally, he decided to be a Minion.

And Nathan is going to be Gru.  (or as Finny puts it, MR. Gru.)

As for Alice and I, I’ve decided to make an executive decision and make her costume soley based on something I’ve always wanted to be.  Next year, she would never allow me to choose for her.  Instead of a super cute My Little Pony, I’m going to be an asshole and dress the two of us up as something so obscure and Disney-World-Epcot-1980s-Nerd-Alert that even I am having second thoughts.

NO.  Not Michael Jackson/Capitan EO – Jiminy, I’m not that weird.  My studded, white leather jacket and rainbow tee will have to live in storage for yet another year.

These guys.  Alice can hate me later.

Dreamfinder and Figment from Journey into Imagination, a ride that is now somewhat defunct at Epcot (only Figment is still around), but is such an endearing part of my childhood that I cannot resist.  No, I am NOT wearing a beard.  Again – I’m not THAT weird.

This weekend, while Nathan is hopefully finishing Finn’s bed (rock holds came in today, yippee!!), I’ll be cutting up old pairs of jeans and scouring Goodwill for a navy blue blazer. I’ll be swearing at my sewing machine and berating myself for buying too much lilac fabric.  And I’ll be scouring the internet for a reasonably priced top hat – since I’m cool like that.

What are you all up to for Halloween?  Any ideas yet?  Please tell me that you are not going to dress your three-year-old daughter in a Snow White/hooker costume from Party City, are you?

Or let me know (gently) that no one else cares about Halloween besides me and the pop-up Halloween stores on September 12th.