Michael Myers a Traditional Part of Halloween

There are two Halloween traditions in which my family traditionally engages: one having to do with food, the other with the true spirit of Halloween, scaring the pants off each other.

The first tradition involves what we do after all the little trick or treaters are done, including our own two. Before we get into the after part, it's important to understand what leads up to the night.

Where we live, trick or treat traditionally runs on a week night and usually starts around 6 p.m. Since both I and my wife work during the day, we usually get home and immediately begin setting up all the "special" haunted decorations and get ourselves and our children ready for the night. This almost always means we are just getting finished as the first little beggars are hitting our neighborhood.

I usually dress up as some demonic creature and hand out the candy to our visitors, while my wife dresses up and takes the kids around the long-term care facility where she works and our neighborhood. Needless to say, there is no time for eating beforehand, so we do it after.

After every trick-or-treat, we go to McDonalds, still all dressed in our Halloween finest. We're certainly not the only ones with kids dressed up, but we are the only adults lots of times. How this got started goes back to before my wife and I were married and had just started dating. We lived in the same neighborhood and she helped me hand out candy one year. I was dressed as a devil, complete with prosthetic chin and rubber horns on my forehead. She and her nephew love to eat at McDonalds, so that's where they wanted to go that year, and they talked me into staying in costume.

Standing in line, there was this little boy who couldn't take his eyes off me. Finally, he mustered the courage to ask the devil standing in line with him, "Are those real?" He was referring to the horns.

"Yes," I told him.

"No they're not," he replied.

"How'd you get your chin to look like that?" he asked next.

"That's just my chin," I said.

"No it's not," he answered.

"What's the matter with your nose?" he then asked.

"The nose is real!" I said, while my future wife and nephew howled with laughter.

Ever since, we've gone to McDonald's after trick-or-treat.

The other tradition is more between my wife and I, who are both huge fans of the original "Halloween" movie. We found a great Michael Myers replica mask a few years ago and purchased it. However, we both get a little freaked out by it.

Normally, we set it atop a dummy in our yard haunt at night, but make sure to take it in at night so no little vandals are tempted.

During the first several days after the haunt is set up, my wife and I will try to use the mask to scare each other. I tend to don it and stand at a window, waiting for her to notice and usually jump several feet in the air. Last year, she propped it up in the shower so it was right in my face as I pulled the curtain back. I put it on and laid in one of the coffins that makes up our yard haunt, waiting for her to come back from her walk. I slowly rose out of the coffin, but she was on to me. We each take turns placing it in various places throughout the house and the garage, trying to surprise the other. It's quite a shock to see that head floating in the darkness at 5 in the morning.

Eventually, a truce is called until the next October. Then we turn out attention to the trick-or-treaters in the neighborhood.