Duck Dynasty Halloween

(for the record, that's an unloaded BB gun)

We started Halloween early by attending a party this weekend.  We woke up the day of the big event and had no idea what we were going to be this year for Halloween.  Then - ta-dah!  The idea came to us.  We ran to Goodwill and called friends to borrow items.  A few hours later - Hello Duck Dynasty. I think it's impossible to see that much unkempt hair growing out of a person's face and not automatically think, "The Robertsons!" (okay, maybe second place would be, "Apocalypse Survivor!")

While getting ready for the party and gluing hair on my family's faces, there was so much wig hair on the floor in our house, I had to stop and do some Bradley Method breathing a few times just to cope.

Hayden loved his costume.  Loved it.  Ashton was excited until after I finished his hair/beard combo.  Then he was quiet and weird.  Mopey even.  It wasn't until we were in the car on the way to the party that he spilled the beans.  Blinking back tears he said, "I don't like my costume.  How am I going to eat at the party with all this hair on my face."  Poor guy.  We did what any supportive family would do -we all started laughing and making fun of him. If you know Ashton at all you know he has a really special relationship with food - especially the variety of food found at parties.  It's his favorite kind.  He was a wreck thinking he'd be around that many cupcakes and sticky foods and not be able to eat his fair share.  We love that boy.  Anson, who pulled off Uncle Si, wanted to divorce us as usual, but thankfully played along at the party - for about 30 minutes.  

Hudson was an African American redneck.  That's common, right?  A part of me laughed a little seeing him poke fun at a group of people (rednecks) who are oftentimes stereotyped as racist.  Obviously not all rednecks are racist (and I have no reason, at all, to think the Robertson family is). The moral of this story?  It was funny to see Hudson dressed up like a redneck, but it felt a bit weird - and I didn't know what to do with those feelings exactly. I still don't.  Once again, I was surprised that thoughts of race, racism, and stereotypes seem to be an ongoing conversation in my head and pop up in the weirdest, most unexpected moments.  Will I ever know how to be the right amount of sensitive to these very real issues as we love and raise our little boy? Some days it feels doubtful.

We drove up to the party honking. The boys were in the bed of the truck blowing on a duck call and whooping it up.  "Sharp Dressed Man" was blaring on the radio.  We were so redneck, I could not stop laughing.  

If you have never watched Duck Dynasty, here's the story line of this entertaining reality show:  A highly redneck family (the kind that eats frog legs and squirrel brains) runs a multi-million dollar business.  Rich rednecks.  Stop and think about that for a moment.  Let it soak in.  It's terrifying.  We grew up with rednecks, and I swore many times the only thing that kept some of them alive was their lack of funding for their crazy ideas.  This "reality" show is sweet, hilarious, and is a great illustration every week for our boys about the love of family and the importance of subject-verb agreement (thanks, Uncle Si!). 

Does anyone know why the boys call their mom, "Mrs. Kay?"  I'll admit - that part weirds me out more than the squirrel brains.

**EDIT**

A reader informed me that Willie and Korie have an adopted son, and their family looks a lot more like ours than I knew.  Isn't that beautiful?  I sure do love when a stereotype is blown right out of the water, don't you?  After reading an interview from Korie, I found some great information about their family.  Not only are these loud and proud rednecks an adoptive, trans-racial family, they also "adopted" a Taiwanese teenager years ago (she's now at LSU).  Go Robertsons!  Way to remind all of us that stereotypes are unfair.   

How about I leave you with some of my favorite Duck Dynasty quotes?

“Parenting is a constant struggle between making your kids' lives better and ruining your own.” – Willie Robertson

"This snowcone is giving me a brain sneeze. It's when your brain needs to sneeze, but it caint cause its a brain, so it just hurts" Si Robertson

"That man has everything, Trucks, Jeeps, Chairs, Pool tables, Mattresses, RV's, Tatader salad, Cold watermelon, He's got everything Jack, .. hey, . sack of oranges.." -- Si Robertson

"You put 5 rednecks on a mower it's gonna be epic." - Willie

"Nothin makes a dad happier than seeing his daughter with a smile on her face and her boyfriend with fear in his eyes." - Willie

"You need to be able to take a leak in your yard without someone saying, 'hey what's he doing'." -Phil

"There are two kinds of people in this world... the educated and the unducated*" - Si Robertson

(*that’s not a type-o)

Hope you have a happy, happy, happy, week of getting Halloween costumes ready for your kids!  

Do you watch Duck Dynasty?  If so, who is your favorite character?  Are they called "characters" on a reality show - or just..."humans."  It's hard to tell.