Halloween!

My town is a near perfect place to trick-or-treat, with even sidewalks and residents who get in to the holiday.  Jack-o-lanterns and decorations are everywhere and along with the crunchy leaves on the sidewalks, we are ready.  As the twilight lengthens, I can hear more kids coming out to join the fun.  We laid in a substantial candy supply at Sassafras House and I am sitting out on the porch in my witch costume so I can soak up the evening,

Between the twilight and the excited kids, the night feels magical.  That’s happy!

October Front Porch

It’s possible to see my front porch Halloween plan as excessive in its enthusiasm.  I don’t see it that way…..Halloween is awfully hard to resist and knowing that the front porch will have more visitors than usual this month makes me especially enthusiastic.  Pumpkin and gourd season does that to me.

There is a Halloween flag and some hanging mums.

All of the porch is on Halloween.

There are plenty of pumpkins and mums, of course.

Days are still warm enough to sit out here with a book and I find time to do that whenever I can.  Then I hear crunchy leaves being stirred and it is like Fall is just plain showing off.

That the end of the month will bring costumed children in search of candy to my front door is simply icing on the Halloween cake.  That’s spooky!

Tricks, Treats, & a Tiny Sliver of Hope

Halloween is a big deal in my town.  We have wide streets and sidewalks and that brings in the trick-or-treaters.  I keep track and this year T and I handed out candy to 168 trick-or-treaters.  I suspect that many of the kids at my door are out-of-towners but I don’t care.  There is something old-fashioned about a few hours in the evening when kids come to the door (most of them in costumes) and we give them candy.  It’s sweet, literally, and as the door closes to echos of “thank you” and “Happy Halloween” I feel happy.  It gives me faith that we can rise about our worst selves and be a good nation once again.

And if not, there are a few left over Kit Kats to get us through.

October Front Porch

Fall and Halloween are in command on the October front porch.

Halloween decorations are the reason I first got into a seasonal display on the porch and it remains one of my favorite months.

For the first part of the month, the weather was warm enough for me to sit outside on some afternoons and enjoy the crunchy leaves.  Since I got back from my trip to Massachusetts, there’s been quite a cool down and sitting outside on the porch requires a cozy sweater.  

There are fairy lights on the table and I light them for some of the evenings.  I’m looking forward to trick-or-treaters at the door and may very well answer the door in my witch costume.  Visitors have been warned.  

Throwback Year 9

At the age of 9, JT was in 3rd and 4th grade.  I loved this age because there was enough maturity to make for some interesting conversations and enough of a boy to make life a persistent adventure.  We played a lot of baseball that year and watched even more.

I thought of this earlier in the week, when 18 year old JT acknowledged that he would need a coat for the coming Winter in Massachusetts.  Age 9 JT disliked wearing a coat and only did so when there was enough snow to warrant such insulation.

For Halloween that year, JT organized Grandma to make him a Scottish kilt, complete with 18th century men’s blouse and a tam o’shanter-style hat.  He felt quite fancy and was so very pleased with the costume.

These days, I plan my own Halloween costume and look forward to handing out candy to the neighborhood trick-or-treaters.  It’s fun, though not quite the same level of excitement as having my own trick-or-treater.  

Halloween Memories

I love Halloween and the ways in which this evening feels magical as the light fades and children crunch through the leafy sidewalks dressed up as princesses and super heroes in pursuit of candy.   On Monday night, I distributed quite a bit of candy between coughing spells. I even let a couple of little boys use the bathroom (their mom was grateful).

For me, Halloween is about community and good old-fashioned fun.  Though I no-longer have a trick-or-treater of my own, the pleasure of doing our part by answering the door is plenty of fun.  To hear JT open the door, complement costumes, and distribute candy is a sweet reminder of some happy Halloweens he enjoyed.

Here’s to ghosts, goblins, princesses, witches, and candy!

Halloween on the Front Porch

When it comes to decorations for the front porch, October is my favorite month.  I’ve a great vintage black jack-o-lantern tablecloth and it serves as a foundation for my plans.  Mums, ghosts, gourds, and pumpkins make things easy and each October I have lots of options.  

Out front, there’s a Halloween flag, a mum with a ghost, and a Halloween sign.

By the rocking chair, things are welcoming for whichever ghost stumbles by and needs a rest.

October mornings are often too cold to sit out on the porch when I wake up in the inky early morning.  But in the afternoon and early evening, the porch is still welcoming and on those days, I’m aware that the time is fleeting.  Fall days pass quickly, the sunlight steadily shrinking and the cold creeping closer each day.

This year, I set out the Halloween decorations on the first day of October.  I enjoyed making my plans and visits to local produce markets for pumpkins and mums.  It makes me happy to celebrate the season and I look forward to Halloween itself, when neighborhood ghosts and goblins will knock on the door in search of candy treats.

That’s happy!

But not particularly scary.

Halloween 2015

As I made ready for Halloween, I couldn’t help but remember the years of taking my own little boy in search for candy.  JT loved Halloween when he was little and from August onward, he plotted each year’s costumes.  He was Peter Pan in kindergarten.

For first grade, he was a politically incorrect Indian, a costume he loved so much that he wore it around for the next two years, in the house but also at the grocery store, Home Depot, and Target.

The next year he was a black cat.

In third grade, he was an alien.

In fourth grade, he got in touch with his Scottish ancestry.

In fifth grade, baseball had taken hold of his soul.  That year, JT went out dressed as the Pandoval, from the San Francisco Giants.

In the sixth grade, his last year as a trick-or-treater, the boy dressed up as a St. Louis Cardinal.  His friend D was a variation of a gory dude, one of his favorite costumes over the years.  

Those days have passed and now it’s my job to admire the costumes of the children who are out and about.  T and I both enjoyed the kids who showed up on the porch.   There were plenty of princesses, musclemen, and undead.  We saw a handful of vampires and devils and a few Star Wars characters.  My favorite was the little boy dressed as a pumpkin.  No ghosts and only a few witches turned up this year.  As usual, I hassled the older boys who came out with no costumes.  But there was candy for everyone who stepped on the porch at Sassafras House.

Happy Halloween!

Tricks and Treats

Halloween decorations at Sassafras House made their appearance soon after the lights went up on the porch.  It’s not really scary,  though visitors are warned.

There is ghost by the front steps.

And another by the front door.

On the table are pumpkins and mums with a ghost and a Halloween cat.  I may carve the pumpkins before the trick-or-treaters arrive on Friday evening or I might just set out lights.  Either way, we've laid in a supply of candy and little ghosts and goblins are welcome at our door.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween!

One of the things I like best about the fall is setting out my Halloween decorations.  The porch is looking welcoming for all the little goblins in my town.

Mine is the friendly Halloween house, the one that won't scare trick-or-treaters.

The pumpkins on the table may get carved this afternoon, though I've grown rather fond of their happy orange presence.

Last year's Halloween was cancelled thanks to Sandy.  I missed the celebration and air of excitement in the air so I've laid in a big supply of treats for this year's ghoulish visitors.  Here's to a happy Halloween!

Halloween!

Last weekend, we carved up some pumpkins for Halloween.

Mine is the cat on the moon in the center.  JT went with the goofy-faced pumpkin on the right and T carved up the scary pumpkin on the left.  For the actual Halloween, JT hit the mean streets with his buddy D, his long-time trick-or-treating buddy.  JT went as Albert Pujols (a costume planned well-before his beloved Cardinals won the World Series).  D always goes out as something scary and this year he unzipped his face.

He's induced some bloody Halloween wounds before but this one set the bar higher than ever before.

The injury must have been well worth it, as the 2011 candy haul may very well be the best to date.

Halloween Report

My town is an early trick-or-treat town and the weather was lovely, which really  brought out the candy-seeking herds.  Trick-or-treaters known to me received one of these chocolate ganache cupcakes. 

The rest of the kids (all 124 of them!) received candy.  And everyone had the chance to admire my frightened pumpkin.

It was a lovely night and I managed not to run short on candy, so I think that Halloween 2010 rates as a success.

PANDAVAL!

For Halloween this year, JT decided to be the Kung Fu Pandaval.  Who's that?  He's a hitter for the San Francisco Giants, Pablo Sandoval, whom the fans nicknamed the Kung Fu Panda, sometimes just shortened to be Pandaval.

 We rolled with that, primarily because this costume combined face paint and baseball, two of JT's favorite things.

He wore the costume to the middle school dance last night (and reports are that he danced!) and will wear it again on Sunday in order to score some candy. 

Halloween never loses its charm for us; it's one of the best nights of the year as far as we're concerned.  We hand out the best candy and if we know you well, there is a special treat for your Halloween bag.

 Happy Halloween!