Can you imagine if this was staring at you from the other side of a picture window? The mask, that is. MATT BARNARD/Tulsa World
By now, most of y'all have seen Jimmy Kimmel's Halloween challenge to parents on YouTube.
In case you have no clue what I'm talkin' about, the ABC late-night host asked the parents in his audience to send him videos of them telling their kids they had eaten all their trick-or-treat candy. Pretty funny stuff, if you can get past the crying.
Check it out here if you haven't seen it.Actually, the first two minutes or so of it kinda grate on my nerves because of the crying. Seriously & Roebuck, some of 'em could stand a few months of trick-or-treating in a poor vegetarian village. Care to throw stones at glass houses with me?
Anyway, I reckon I'd probably pitch a fit had Dad eaten all my Halloween candy growing up. Not that we went trick-or-treating, but I can fully imagine the hypothetical scene in tear-streaked Technicolor and screaming surround sound.
Speaking of screaming, that video reminded me of the early December night in the mid-'80s when Mom and I were decorating the Christmas tree. I assumed Dad and my brother were making themselves useful in the den watching football while Mom handed me ornaments to hang -- not the fragile ones that had sentimental value, though, as gravity and I have always had a tumultuous relationship (hello, crow's feet!).
I was trying to find a bare spot on the back of the tree facing the big-picture window when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. I turned a little and opened my mouth to gasp, but nothing came out, as I was too mortified to make a sound. A monster was outside -- a grotesque, pale face with blood all over it.
Stumbling back, I started stuttering, "M-m-mom! M-m-mom!" (which is probably how Campbell's Soup kids sound when calling their mothers), almost falling into the glass-topped coffee table. I was horrified. Surely, some evil demon was about to burst through the glass, grab me and ... Eat me, I guess. I don't know.
Looking wide-eyed past my mother, who stood there holding a couple of ornaments, was my older brother, in a fetal position on the floor, red-faced and laughing. It seems Dad put on an old rubber Halloween mask to scare the ghosts of Christmases past through future out of me. At the time, I was quite ticked; but it's since become a fond holiday memory. I'm also sincerely afraid of standing next to glass, but bygones.
So do you have any videos of recent Halloween pranks or practical jokes you'd like to share? I wanna see 'em! Kindly share a link with me, as long as it's clean (i.e., PG-rated, so as not to offend anyone).
Peace, love and M-m-moms ... XOXO
Today's non sequitur: REMEMBER TO SET YOUR CLOCKS BACK ONE HOUR BEFORE BED TIME SATURDAY. Sorry to scream at you in all caps.
