Thursday, October 15, 2009

The Not So Helpful Helping Husband

Halloween is right around the corner and that means it's time to bust out the decorations!  While I don't have giant inflatables or anything animated gracing my front yard and porch, I do tend to go a bit crazy over holidays.  I love them!  And I feel the need, especially now that I have kids, to announce this to all the neighbors and anyone who happens to drive by. So every year I pull out my big totes of spiderwebs, flying bats, etc. and buy up more pumpkins than I have family members to carve them.  And every year I get the same eye roll from my husband.  He just doesn't understand how making the front door almost impossible to approach makes for a happier Halloween.  And every year I get the same "If you want it up...then you put it up."  And every year it never fails....after the pumpkins are arranged and rearranged, after I've scraped myself to my elbows covering the shrubs with spiderwebs, after I'm teetering on the step ladder trying to hang up a plastic witch...THEN my husband miraculously gets filled with holiday spirit.  He slowly emerges from the house, looks around at the 90% completed porch and says, "Do you need help?" I'm not sure if he feels bad for me, or if he knows I've silently been cursing him the entire time I struggled to peel apart my window clings.  Maybe he comes out because, although the decorations and hoopla are irrelevant to him, spending some time together as a family is relevant. I'm just going to believe he wants to spend time with us because I know he doesn't WANT to be stringing up garlands of fall leaves.  So I guess I can't get mad...I mean, I knew it was coming anyway.  All you can do is learn from the situation and make the most of it.  So, even though I'm glad he eventually comes out to spend time with us...I still hold off on the more difficult jobs and feign more struggle than I'm really having to speed up his ultimate arrival!

1 comment:

  1. I can absolutely relate to this. It's a little different for me though because my hubby was raised a Jehova's Witness, so he's never really done the holiday thing. He did when we were dating but as soon as the courtship ended and the nitty gritty relationship began, he stopped any of that fanfair. I love him dearly, but I wish he would get more involved, at least for our daughter. Spend time with us a bit more, instead of hiding out. *shrugs* It must be an inherant male thing.

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