Halloween Havoc

I'm going to be a little self-indulgent today on the artistic corner, so I apologize now as this post has absolutely nothing to do with our journey towards publishing. Halloween is my favorite holiday of the year. In fact it's the only one that we truly go a little crazy for in our house. After years of retail management Christmas is not the most wonderful time of the year and Valentine's Day can't truly be celebrated if everyone waits to the last minute to buy that something special. We do celebrate these holidays, because of our children, but it doesn't mean I enjoy them.

It gets a little crazy in our house during the month of October. Starting the first day of the month-as long as the weather cooperates-the decorations hit the lawn. Living in Omaha has proven to been a little crazy, like this year when our poor Snoopy hit the ground after we got seven inches of snow. Still, I personally would have them out sooner, but every year my husband makes me wait for the great reveal. This year, one of the neighbors asked Thomas' if he was intentionally trying to out do everyone in the neighborhood. He obviously doesn't understand our obsession. Seriously, our house looks like it could belong in Salem. Actually, its on a list of places we'd like to live.

The kids have certain books we read on a daily basis. Their favorite continues to be The Five Little Pumpkins which my son now has memorized. If you haven't read this book it's great and I totally recommend it. It puts a smile on both of their faces no matter how many times we read it.

While the children have movies they like to enjoy during this month like Hocus Pocus and The Little Vampire, the adults dedicate it to watching as many horror movies as possible. It's sad when we can pretty much quote the movie Scream word for word. Thomas' has used this time period to catch up on the Saw series.

Our traditions are deep and on a funny timeline. Every year we carve our pumpkins on our son's birthday. We do this because any earlier and the pumpkins would be mush. His birthday on the the 27th is perfect. Just so everyone knows we did take him trick or treating on his first Halloween. Yes, he was only 4 days old and yes, he had a costume.

We also have a very important food tradition in place. Every year our food for Halloween night always has something to do with scary or spooky. We have had Dead Joe(Sloopy Joes), Jack-O-Pizza(A pizza with apumpkin face), Morgue Leftovers(Chilli). Tonight though we are having Bloody Batwings(Chicken Wings) and Mummy Dogs(Pigs in a blanket).

The beginning of Halloween has many different explanations and yes I've researched them all, because that's just how I am. Regardless of any of them, this family loves the whole idea. Of course there are a multitude of things you could chalk this up to. First, I was raised in an area where the biggest celebration was Neewollah. It was the biggest celebration in the entire state of Kansas and we love it. We haven't been home in years to be apart of this, but its traditions are deeply ingrained in us. Then there's the whole theater thing. Seriously what part of us would not want to dress up in costume, being someone else for a night and actually blend in with the crowd. Then of course the kids love the candy, who wouldn't, but when I asked them today they said the thing they look forward to the most is carving pumpkins.

So to everyone who reads this blog have a great Halloween. Enjoy trick or treating and pumpkin craving! Be safe and most of all have FUN! Because in our house Halloween is the most wonderful time of the year!