Anniversary Ghoul 2025

Having our fun wedding anniversary on Halloween means that every year, I get an Anniversary Ghoul from Bryce. 

It's a tradition that's super important to both of us -- a hand-drawn ghoul that Bryce selects and executes in my Halloween card (we do an anniversary card on the "legal" date, and then a Halloween card on the fun one). Past ones include the Babdook, Mothman, Pennywise, Marianne (from the French Netflix horror show, so scary!), a spider, a chipmunk morphing into The Thing, a werewolf, the faceless lady in the pond from The Haunting of Bly Manor but instead of that pond it's our pond... I look forward to it every year. 

This year, it was something no one else will ever have. I may have to copyright it. 

The envelope gave me a clue: 

Pay no attention to the tiny smudge of guacamole in the upper left corner...

Any guesses? I looked at it and was like, whaaaa? But then, I burst out laughing. I knew exactly what it was going to be.

Ever seen one of these? It's a Cthulhu Walrus. With a vestigial fin. 

Why is it so funny? 

It's based on something I drew for a student in my 7th grade Social Studies class, who was wailing during a review on the Arctic Native Americans "I don't even know what a walrus iiiiissss!" I assured her she did, and drew what I thought was a pretty good walrus on my board. I am famous for drawing very bizarre things in the name of education. You will see a slight difference between my drawing and Bryce's...

I had to take a picture and bring it home to show him, because it's frankly terrifying. Although, recognizable enough for the kids, who were indignant when I said in a slow, low voice, "Bye Buddy, hope you find your dad!" and one of the students yelled "that's not a walrus, that's a unicorn whale!!!" If you haven't seen Elf, this will all be gobbledygook to you, so go watch Elf and come back, haha.

This may be my favorite ghoul, as it is completely custom. And we have a little thing for Cthulhu (see fun picture of a crochet Baby Cthulhu our friend made Bryce below). As a childless couple, traditions are important. Marking the passage of time and celebrating those years is important. Celebrating the children in ourselves... important! 

Eggi is way into the cute little demon. And she went totally into that bag 2 seconds later. :)