What do you call people with no holiday spirit? I need to come up with a word to describe my husband, because he tends to put in the least amount of effort or thought into any holiday. I don’t think it’s his fault really. For instance, I just recently found out that he NEVER went trick or treating before as a child. And his parents would work so late that by the time they came home, there was no need to hand out candy.
Ever since we got married, we have been living in apartments, and no kids would come around ringing our door bell. So I didn’t give it much thought that we never handed out candy. But my childhood was filled with memories of me racing through the streets with my friends, trying to fill our pillow cases (yes pillow cases… greedy kids) with the most candy possible. Then I’d come home to see my parents answer the door with gusto, because they themselves had been giving out KING SIZED candy bars all night (everyone knew our house had the best candy). Then I’d spill out my earnings onto the carpet, with my sister, who had gone trick or treating with her own set of friends, and we’d trade our candy.
I tried to convince Joe that this was why giving out candy was fun, but he was not having it. Well, since we moved to Chicago, we are temporarily living with my in-laws. So surprisingly, my mother-in-law actually bought some candy for us to give out this year, since she knew we would be home. I gave out the first round, and then went to cook dinner. So that left Joe to hand out candy for the first time! Listening to him talk to the kids and chuckle with the teenagers who came around to our door was so endearing. I knew once he started, he would grow to like it.
He even started to worry about running out of candy. This neighborhood was bumpin’! When we got down to the final 5 pieces of candy, we both felt the panic wash over us since it was only 6pm! So regretfully, after those were gone too, we had to turn off all our lights and sit in the dark. But the way my in-laws’ house is designed, you have to literally turn off ALL your lights, and even lower the brightness of your computers and cell phones because the windows give away the fact that people are home.
So that’s what we did starting from 6pm… sit in a completely dark house and edit our next video. It’s not exactly the festive night I’m used to, or had in mind, but it was still nice to be able to see Joe break free from his bah humbug ways and join in on the fun… at least for a little while. Next year, I’m going to try to get him to wear a costume.
