The New Ginger Princess

There are a lot of different holidays, almost one for every month, and they vary in levels of interest and excitement. Some holidays are so minor and uncelebrated like Arbor Day, which may not even count as a holiday at all, and then there are the holidays which are cause for grand celebrations and publicity, like Christmas. Another grand holiday is Halloween, about as exciting as Christmas without being essentially tabooed in schools. It doesn't give kids a day off of school but it does provide an excuse to throw a party and send children home with a pre-trick-or-treating sugar rush. The holiday itself gains participation from people of all ages in some way or another, from simply eating candy and staying in to dressing up and going all out for this one night.

Parents love Halloween just like their children do, and use the fact that they have kids as a way of getting candy for themselves. Austin and Alan have always loved Halloween, never going all out or being excessive but always participating. Typically they decorate the front porch a bit in that cute and simple way that is festive without scaring any little kids. They get candy and dress up just because they can, they watch horror movies, and give candy to trick-or-treaters. This year is going to be different of course seeing as they are now parents, which means going trick-or-treating and saving the horror movies for after Marissa goes to bed.

It is the week before Halloween and it is the time when the decorating all occurs, meaning fake cobwebs, tissue paper ghosts, and picking out pumpkins. Austin and Alan pick Marissa up after school and drive to the pumpkin patch that they go to every year. They ask Marissa if she wants to go home and change first, her little dress and sandals not exactly the ideal attire for the dirt and hay of a pumpkin patch. Even so, neither parent is surprised that their daughter is perfectly content with her outfit for where they are going.

Arriving at the pumpkin patch all three of them are excited, Alan and Marissa immediately running to look at pumpkins, Austin just locks the car and quickly follows after them. Alan judges each pumpkin he passes, trying to find the perfect one and Marissa does the same thing. They dismiss about a row and a half of pumpkins, which Austin thinks look perfectly fine, before Marissa stops in her tracks and causes her parents to follow suit. 

Marissa looks at the pumpkin in front of her for a minute before saying, "This one."

"Good choice Mar," Alan says, and although he would never choose that one for himself he knows she loves it.

Austin goes to pick up the pumpkin but is quickly stopped by Marissa. She says, "It's my pumpkin, I want to hold it."

Her parents can both easily see that their daughter will not be able to pick up the pumpkin, and are immediately proven right. Marissa tries to pick up her pumpkin, clearly using as much strength as she can, but she is unable to get it off the ground and into her arms. She is getting frustrated and tired but her parents know it's better to just let her tire herself out until she gives up rather than trying to do it for her.

A minute of failed attempts later Marissa says, "Daddy, you can hold my pumpkin if you want, I don't mind." This is her way of giving up without having to admit any defeat.

Austin smiles and tells her, "Thank you," picking up the pumpkin that Marissa chose. "Let's go find some little pumpkins, they're my favorite."

Marissa agrees and the two of them look at the mini pumpkins while Alan continues his search for the perfect pumpkin. Austin and Marissa choose four mini pumpkins, which Marissa holds onto while they make their way to the front to buy the pumpkins. Alan meets up with them at the front holding a pumpkin that is his opinion of perfect. They pay for the pumpkins and put them in the car to go home, Marissa still holding onto one of the mini pumpkins.

At home the three of them start to work on the decorations, making tissue paper ghosts and attaching them to string. They agree to wait a few more days to carve the pumpkins so they don't rot as quickly. Instead they decide to draw the faces on with permanent marker and cut out the faces later. The little pumpkins are given faces, wanting to have them be decorated but they plan to leave the mini ones uncut. 

They each decorate one of the mini ones, making a cute mini pumpkin family that is just like theirs, but that leaves one of the four as extra. Marissa gives the extra one a face and says that her dads should bring it to work so the store can be decorated too. Austin agrees to bring it with him on Monday, until then it can keep the others company in the middle of the table.

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As promised the baby pumpkin is taken to Aspire And Create on Monday, and it is quickly adopted by Beau. It is given the name Henry, although Beau doesn't really explain why, and is proudly displayed on the counter. Austin brings home candy after work, not that they don't already have a ton of it, and officially declares everything ready for Halloween.

The week passes quickly and Friday brings all the excitement that comes with Halloween. Marissa's class is allowed to wear their costumes to school and they have a little celebration, Alan giving some of the excessive amount of candy Austin has been stocking up on to the teacher for the class. Everyone is dressed up, even some of the parents have costume accessories on and the teacher has a witch hat. 

Marissa is supposed to be a fairy but she isn't wearing the wings because they might break or fall off during school so she looks like a little flower princess instead. She is wearing a short sleeved pink dress that is a medium pink on top and a mix of different pinks on the skirt part of it. It has a silver ribbon that goes across the seam where the skirt part starts, flowing out into something resembling a sparkly tutu that goes to her knees. She pairs it with some opaque white tights, her little black flats, and a rose wreath crown. The crown is a wreath of fabric roses with ribbon strings streaming down the back, just like something that someone would get at a street fair or theme park. 

The other kids are also dressed up in their costumes, Patrick is a cowboy and Fiona is a little Devil. Cristy knew that her daughter wasn't going to want to dress up as a princess or anything of the sort, and it never bothered her, but this year she is excited because she actually gets to help do something really girly. An hour before the families all plan to go trick-or-treating Marissa and her dads are going to Fiona's house so Cristy can do a bit of fairy makeup on Marissa. 

While Marissa is at school Alan gathers the stuff for his costume and the things for Austin's costume, setting them out on the bed just so it's easier to do later. Marissa helped the two of them decide what to be, wanting them to be pirates, which both of them actually really like. The only part of the costumes not on the bed are the hats, Alan and Austin have been wearing those all morning because they think the hats are cool and like wearing them.

Austin is home extra early because the shop is actually closed for the day and Austin just went in to work on some financial stuff. So after he is done he checks that the store is locked and makes it home just after ten. Austin and Alan have almost two hours to spend together alone before they need to pick up Marissa from school, and they take advantage of their free time.

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Marissa comes home from school with a little plastic party favor bag containing a few pieces of candy, a small bat shaped eraser, and one of those spider rings. She also shows her parents the paper jack-o-lantern picture she colored in and tells them all about her day. They have her change out of her costume for a while so it doesn't get ruined before they go out later. 

She says, "You can tell me about your day when I get back," and then the skitters down the hall towards her room.

"Well, I have no clue what we did today that we can really tell her," Alan mutters to Austin, dramatically collapsing next to Austin on the couch.

Austin swiftly pulls Alan onto his lap, Alan is now facing away from Austin with his back leaning on Austin's chest. Alan rests his arms over the ones wrapped around his abdomen and tilts his head back in order to look up at his husband.

"Then I will tell her about our day and you won't have to worry about trying to come up with something," Austin tells Alan.

Marissa comes back to the living room, now wearing one of her comfortable outfits, and sits down on the floor in front of her parents. She looks up at them and says, "Now you can tell me about your day."

They smile at their little girl and Austin says, "I finished all my work so I got to come home extra early and spend time with Alan."

"Did you do anything fun?"

At this Alan internally cringes, while Austin remains at ease and swiftly replies, "We cuddled, listened to music, and I told him just how much I love him."

Marissa smiles and tells them, "That sounds nice. Daddy, you should come home early more, you and Dad looked so happy after school."

Austin grins and says, "I think you're right, I should come home early more often."

It is a couple minutes later and Marissa decides to go play out in the backyard, leaving her parents in the living room together. Alan looks up at Austin and makes a face of embarrassment that is met with an amused smirk.

"I don't even know how you came up with that so easily," Alan says.

"I see nothing wrong with what I told her. It was honest and appropriate," Austin tells his husband. 

"How exactly was that honest?" Alan asks, although glad that Austin was the one to talk to their daughter.

"We did sort of cuddle and listen to music, I held you kind of like this while we had music playing in the background. Plus, I did tell you just how much I love you, and although you might have been a bit distracted I still left you speechless," Austin explains, still smirking a bit.

"She was right though, you should come home early more often because I miss having time together like that," Alan adds before pressing a kiss to Austin's cheek.

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It is 5:30 when Marissa and her parents arrive at Fiona's house, being greeted at the door by Zack, currently wearing the majority of what is clearly a red Power Ranger costume. They enter the house and find Cristy so she can help Marissa with her costume, which she is holding as she is still wearing her comfy clothes. 

"You guys can make yourselves comfortable, but leave us be so we can have some fun girl time," Cristy tells Austin and Alan, shooing them out of the bathroom.

They go to the living room and find Fiona and Zack arguing as they tumble in the middle of the room. Austin and Alan having become familiar with the Merrick family are used to the siblings behaving in such a way. Their parents had mentioned before that if it ever happens then Austin and Alan are allowed to separate the kids, that it isn't crossing any sort of parental lines or anything. 

They give the siblings a moment and when there shows no sign of resolve they mediate, Austin pulling Zack away from his sister. With the two kids sat on opposite ends of the couch the couple stands in front of them, looking at them both and Alan asks for an explanation.

"He took my headband with the Devil horns on it and he won't give it back," Fiona complains.

"I only took your headband because you hid my Power Ranger mask," Zack defends.

"Both of you just give each other your stuff back," Alan tells them. They both huff, but they agree and go off to return their things, leaving Austin and Alan in the living room to just relax. As the brother and sister re-enter the living room they are both wearing their full costumes, completed by the accessories that they had been fighting about. The four of them just sit and watch tv, surprisingly the siblings don't argue over what they watch, and they wait for Marissa.

It is a half hour later and Marissa prances into the living room, standing in front of the tv so she can get everyone's attention. She is once again wearing her costume, now adorned with sparkly pink fairy wings and fairy makeup. The makeup consists of dark pink decorative swirls that go around her eyes and down onto her cheeks, set off by the shimmer dust that has been applied to her face. In her parents' eyes she looks like the most adorable being on the face of the Earth, even more so than they usually think. She is just beaming and they all compliment Marissa, and Cristy for doing such an amazing job.

Soon Patrick and his parents arrive, about five minutes before Benjamin comes home from work. They all take a bunch of pictures of the children all together and make sure that everything is ready. The kids each have little pumpkin buckets to collect their candy and one of each set of parents has a pillow case to carry candy when their child's buckets get too full or simply too heavy for them.

Aside from Austin and Alan the other parents aren't really dressed up in costumes, the moms however are wearing cat ears with a little cat nose and whiskers drawn on their faces. All of them are decked out in glow sticks of varying forms of accessories for when it gets dark, starting to trick-or-treat at a time when it is still light out but it is dim and is going to be quite dark before long. They all make their way door to door collecting candy, avoiding all the houses that are too scary for them, and the children actually have to empty their buckets into their parents' pillow cases quite a few times. 

At the end of the night the families all return to the Merrick house to get their cars and head to their separate homes, Cristy making sure to remove all of the makeup from Marissa's face before she leaves. Upon returning home Marissa changes into her pajamas while her parents check all of the candy to make sure that it is all safe. The three of them sort through the different candy and her parents let her have a piece of candy before she brushes her teeth and goes to bed. She promised to share with them, letting them each pick out one of her pieces of candy so they could all have one.

With Marissa in bed her fathers curl up on the couch together and watch a horror movie with the volume low so as not to disturb their daughter. They stay up late watching two more horror movies before they finally decide to go to bed. Their new tradition for Halloween is even better than the one they had been doing since high school. There are so many things that being parents has changed about their lives, all of them seeming to be for the better.