Family Traditions – Addams Style

As a social worker, one of  things I studied in school was family values, based upon traditions. I recall being told that every family has traditions they hold in high regard. At the time, I laughed and found it humorous. My wife and I weren’t parents yet so family traditions were non-existent. In fact, the only thing my wife and I did with regularity was to sit in the Walmart parking lot at 4 A.M the day after Thanksgiving (We have always been thankful for cheap D.V.D’s and crock pots that we don’t need)! Now that we are parents we are starting to have family traditions. Our traditions are different from most families and I would say they most closely resemble The Addams Family.

Halloween at our house has always been a big deal. It became even bigger when our child was born and we had a new family member to torture, my son, Xander. I knew he would fit in with the family from the moment he was born. Xander wasn’t the conventional child and cried at birth, instead, he showed how much he cared about the doctor by peeing all over her. It is one of my prouder moments I have of my son (my wife and I didn’t like the doctor).

Starting in the month of August my wife and I plan out our fall activities that accumulate to Halloween!

Family Traditions – Gomez Addams

Each year I spend weeks planning out the macabre, deranged and literal scare fest we will have (and that is just the meal planning for each day)! I find some strange similarities between me and Gomez Addams. We both tend to live each moment to the fullest with childlike qualities . If others found our  families strange or unusual we wouldn’t notice. All Gomez or myself would see is the beauty in having a family to celebrate Halloween with. The family that can plan and dress up together can collect free candy together!

My beloved wife, Melissa, works hard to plan a proper Halloween. Each year, the matriarch of our family sends me beneath the stairs to find the Halloween decorations. She shouts encouragement from a distance because she doesn’t want to disturb any of the resting spiders (she truly cares about others).  After I have all the crates of decorations we will look through them together and talk about Halloween past, e.g., the parties we have thrown, the costumes we have worn or the mystery punch we have made (I am very glad I no longer drink….yikes)!

Before Xander was born, we had stopped dressing up for Halloween. Once we had a child we have found new traditions in dressing up as a family. Last year, Melissa spent months trying to find the perfect costume. She tried on many costumes and rarely was content with the way they made her look. After a hard search she found a costume she enjoyed. She went as a sassy pirate.

Last year, was the first time our son really enjoyed Halloween. Children are normally frightened with scary or macabre items. We worked with Xander for months showing him there was nothing to fear in Halloween. As we looked for costumes Xander showed no fear and would look for scary items to laugh at (I am not talking about unsanitary bathrooms either)!

Xander and I are were watching Finding Nemo one afternoon and he informed me that he wanted to dress as a shark for Halloween (so he could chase the dogs)! My wife and I were originally concerned about allowing him to go as a shark. We soon found we had nothing to fear as Xander continued to play “shark” without a costume.

Once we found Xander’s shark costume he ran around practicing his “scary” shark roar. I was unaware that sharks roared. Xander made sure I knew all the facts about sharks and roaring!

 

We are the parents of one human son and three dachshund daughters (Okay, my  three daughters look a lot like me and no one can say they look like real dogs)!! One of our girls, Emmy, is closer to Xan than the other two, e.g.,  she sits next to him, follows him around and plays ball with him. She is also the one dog we can dress up for Halloween. It was a wonderful moment when we discovered a shark costume for Emmy to wear at Halloween.

Family Traditions Gone Mad

Looking back, last Halloween was a perfect day. Melissa spent the afternoon of Halloween getting dressed as a sassy pirate or “shark catcher.” Xander and Emmy spent less than 5 minutes dressing up as sharks. After Xan decided he would dress as a shark for Halloween I knew he would need a victim!  I was lucky and wore beach clothes for Halloween.  It did take me a bit longer to get ready (because of the big gaping hole in my neck where the two sharks got me)!

We went over to our nephew and nieces house. All of the kids in our family would trick-or-treat together and we could take the yearly scary photos! Halloween is a big tradition in our house. We decorate together, we buy costumes together and we all go trick-or treating together. I can’t think of a better family tradition then celebrating Halloween with the Addams Family. we have already started looking for this year’s costumes and we are working on making sequels for many years to come.

I am also writing this post today for Blogger Idol – Week One Blogger Idol Play At Home . They asked their contestants to write about a tradition that their family celebrates. My family really enjoys Halloween! We have a lot of fun actively participating in the holiday. What is your families favorite tradition? Do you or your family get overly stressed because of the tradition or do you find it a relaxing time to share with each other? Tell me about your family traditions in the comments! If you like this story be sure to share to get the word out!

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Tags: day after thanksgiving, family halloween, family member, family values, gomez addams, halloween family, meal planning, social worker, Walmart