So this Halloween we went full wicked. Our costumes were cobbled together from boxes under the bed and the Michael’s half off sale. The key, I’ve discovered, for true Halloween joy, is not the ornate-ness or the amount of money spent. It’s about accessories, makeup, and the ability to commit to a character in your mind.

For example, at one point, Jane turned to me and said, “I’m not Jane anymore. I’m The Grand High Witch.” So in order to get her to do anything I had to re-frame my requests, like, “Hey Grand High Witch, move your shoes out of the middle of the floor or I’m going to kill myself on them.”

The kid commits.

Earlier, at her school party, she was a Rapunzel with pink makeup and a pink flower crown and she replied to my requests with, “Yes Mother, whatever you say I’ll do, Mother.” While FLUTTERING HER EYELIDS. See, totally deep into character.

But once she donned that witch hat it was game over. She has, after all, been practicing her witch cackle since JULY.

She went into some kind of mental merger between Winifred Sanderson and Maleficent, which resulted in her creating the most fantastic faces, but also bossing me around during our selfie sessions by saying, “Mom, be more wicked.”

As my friend Jeanetta said, “Oh honey, if you only knew.”

Fayez wore a hat, and underneath his coat he pinned a jack-o-lantern Jane made for him. He may not go full-costume with us, but he likes a good mean-faced-selfie.

And now, today, Jane and I are a little bummed. Our favorite holiday is over and to top it off, I am super befuddled that I got a stomach ache after eating only a handful of candy. What is happening? I feel like my intestinal system failed me because if you can’t hang tough after four Reese’s Pieces Cups then what’s the point!?

So it’s another year until Halloween. All the great orange-ness of it goes back into boxes, but Jane and I are scheming to make costume and makeup dates part of our regularly scheduled program. After all, it’s always a little bit Halloween to us. I was explaining to her that we could use fish net pantyhose and sparkly green eye shadow to make scales on our faces, like mermaids, and she said seriously, “We need more makeup. Now.”

So Happy After-Halloween. I hope you all survived it. I hope you were able to power through more than four pieces of candy without going old-lady with pepto and an early bedtime.

Until next year… Boo.