I recently received an email from Kendra Thornton saying that she was looking for bloggers to collaborate on a series of Halloween posts to help people get excited for Halloween. I sent a reply and got one back, but wasn't really able to find the time to do what she was looking for. In Kendra's email she asked me to answer one of the following questions (and I cut and pasted this directly from her email):
- What is your favorite aspect about Halloween? Does your family have any traditions you do every year? (Pumpkin carving, haunted hay rides, favorite trick or treating candy routes)
- What is your favorite memory in terms of Halloween? Was it something you did growing up, is it one relating to your children, or was there ever a favorite costume [you] wore/created?
- I always try and maintain a healthy eating regime throughout the year; however, once Halloween hits there are always those certain candies and treats I can’t seem resist. Is there a certain type of candy you crave this time or year, a particular dessert you make that is an all time favorite?
I believe I dealt with my love of candy in my post "On How I got the Beetus, Part 2: Halloween Candy" from last year, so I thought I'd write a bit about some of the other things she talked about.
Before my divorce, I really had become a bit of a humbug about Halloween. I barely decorated, did not dress up and really was not as excited about the day as I once had been. I have a lot of memories of being a kid and getting super excited about every aspect of the holiday. The costumes, the decorating, the trick-or-treating, I couldn't wait. My parents always seemed excited about it as well. I had always wanted kids and one of the reasons was to watch them get excited and make their holidays awesome. Therefore it was very disappointing to me when I did not follow through.
My Halloween apathy really began toward the end of my first marriage. Even with the kids being at prime Halloween-enjoying ages, it was a struggle to get in the mood. Like most things, I blame my ex-wife (just half-kidding). This is not me ex-wife bashing again (well, maybe a little). Unless she does something that sets me off, I usually don't do any bashing. Our marriage failed, I did things, she did things, and one day I will write it all down... but today is all about Halloween. The reason I say that I blame her is that she seemed to be even more apathetic than I did and it seemed like a lot of work to get her excited.
The one thing that has changed Halloween the most for me, for both good and bad, was the divorce. It was bad in that my three oldest kids live with my ex-wife. Even though they only live about 15 minutes away, I never get to see or talk to them. It's hard to get them excited for Halloween and get to do all the other things I'd like to do with them when I only see them 4 days a month. I miss watching them get excited for the holiday and looking at the costume section of every store dozens of times. I miss watching scary movies and thinking of ways to scare the heck out of each other.
Not to bring this post down any lower than I already have, but I felt I should mention the trick-or-treating. I won't say too much because I could do a whole post on the candy-collecting process. But to further emphasize the Halloween depression I had sunk into, or in some cases driven to, there were a few years that we didn't even take the kids out for real trick-or-treating. We would take them to see different people, like my mom or one of my ex's relatives, and we would spend so much time visiting that we only stopped at a couple of places. Not a lot of candy was received those years.
Despite my malaise, there is one tradition that I have always maintained. In all the years of doing it I may have missed one year. That activity is carving pumpkins. Not every year has been carving -- there were a few years where we painted them -- but whether they were cut open or just drawn on, the decorating of the pumpkins would be just about the best part of Halloween for me.
The first thing that I do is get pumpkins. Unfortunately my income has never been that great, as I stated above, so taking a nice family trip to the local pumpkin patch never seemed that feasible. To be honest, it was totally feasible, but because of my ex's and my holiday depression, we never made it a priority. We did go to a patch one year and it was a lot of fun, but only going one time in my kids' carving career is weak. When you are strapped for cash you usually end up in one place... Walmart. I have bought waaaay too many pumpkins from that giant evil super store, but when a huge pumpkin costs $4.50 at the mart, and the same pumpkin is $10-$15 at a local place, you go with cheap. Someday I will make enough money where I will never have to step into a Walmart again. Just like most things in life, you do get what you pay for, so the shelf life of these pumpkins is usually very short. For this reason, I usually take the kids to the store as close to Halloween as possible.
Once the pumpkins are purchased, it's time to scoop them out. This is messy, and to me, the best part of the process. Sticking your hand into the "guts" and squeezing is a truly Halloween experience. Do I put down papers or anything to help prevent the innards from getting all over the place? Heck no! Unfortunately my older kids have never seemed to be as excited as I am about this part. I really think that it is all about the cutting for them and they just don't want to be bothered cleaning the pumpkin out. I scoop the guts out and put them in a bowl. When all the guts are out then I slowly separate the seeds to make a delicious healthy snack for the family. Out of all the years I've sorted the seeds, I have only actually cooked the seeds twice. Usually they sit in the bowl for a week or so before we decide to throw them out. They were delicious!
Finally there comes the carving. Every year I look forward to this part and think hard about what I want to carve on my pumpkin. I see all the awesomely-carved pumpkins on the internet and think, I have a degree in art, I can do something amazing. I tell the kids to take a marker and draw their design on their pumpkin before they cut. Some years it has been faces, others super hero symbols. My oldest daughter is a Jack Skellington fanatic, so every year is new Skellington face.
When it comes down to the cutting, I usually end up doing most of it. I would like to say that the kids prefer it this way, but I really think I just end up taking over because I want their pumpkins to come out perfect. (It has nothing to do with my children wielding sharp instruments.) By the time I get done "helping" the kids, I have no desire to do an intricate design for my own pumpkin and just throw a simple face on it. Besides, they are kids, and easily bored. Once their pumpkin is done they want to fly out of the house to enjoy playing in the great outdoors... just kidding. They want to get back to video games on the Wii and the laptop.
The divorce was good for Halloween in that I married a person who, though this is not her favorite holiday, supports me in just about everything I do. I may not get her to sit down to watch a gory movie fest, but if I wanted to invite a bunch of people over to do that, she would be in the other room, trying to ignore the sounds of zombies eating people. If I decided to invest in a 20-foot tall inflatable headless horseman, she would let me get it. I'd probably have to set it up behind the garage, but still, she would not say no to me buying it.
The most important thing that my wife has done for me for Halloween (and all holidays for that matter) is, given me an awesome daughter. She is now two and a half years old and really starting to figure this all out. We sat her down at the table with some markers and let her do her own pumpkin this year. It's just a bunch of scribble on a pumpkin but hey, she's only two and a half. With my daughter I get another chance to create a new Halloween fan and do all the things that I cannot do with my oldest three. I get to start new traditions with her and watch her discover the joys of Halloween. "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" is coming on, I think that we will have to introduce this to her.
"Each year, the Great Pumpkin rises out of the pumpkin patch that he thinks is the most sincere. He's gotta pick this one. He's got to. I don't see how a pumpkin patch can be more sincere than this one. You can look around and there's not a sign of hypocrisy. Nothing but sincerity as far as the eye can see." - Linus
Happy Halloween Everyone!
I believe I dealt with my love of candy in my post "On How I got the Beetus, Part 2: Halloween Candy" from last year, so I thought I'd write a bit about some of the other things she talked about.
Before my divorce, I really had become a bit of a humbug about Halloween. I barely decorated, did not dress up and really was not as excited about the day as I once had been. I have a lot of memories of being a kid and getting super excited about every aspect of the holiday. The costumes, the decorating, the trick-or-treating, I couldn't wait. My parents always seemed excited about it as well. I had always wanted kids and one of the reasons was to watch them get excited and make their holidays awesome. Therefore it was very disappointing to me when I did not follow through.
My Halloween apathy really began toward the end of my first marriage. Even with the kids being at prime Halloween-enjoying ages, it was a struggle to get in the mood. Like most things, I blame my ex-wife (just half-kidding). This is not me ex-wife bashing again (well, maybe a little). Unless she does something that sets me off, I usually don't do any bashing. Our marriage failed, I did things, she did things, and one day I will write it all down... but today is all about Halloween. The reason I say that I blame her is that she seemed to be even more apathetic than I did and it seemed like a lot of work to get her excited.
The one thing that has changed Halloween the most for me, for both good and bad, was the divorce. It was bad in that my three oldest kids live with my ex-wife. Even though they only live about 15 minutes away, I never get to see or talk to them. It's hard to get them excited for Halloween and get to do all the other things I'd like to do with them when I only see them 4 days a month. I miss watching them get excited for the holiday and looking at the costume section of every store dozens of times. I miss watching scary movies and thinking of ways to scare the heck out of each other.
Not to bring this post down any lower than I already have, but I felt I should mention the trick-or-treating. I won't say too much because I could do a whole post on the candy-collecting process. But to further emphasize the Halloween depression I had sunk into, or in some cases driven to, there were a few years that we didn't even take the kids out for real trick-or-treating. We would take them to see different people, like my mom or one of my ex's relatives, and we would spend so much time visiting that we only stopped at a couple of places. Not a lot of candy was received those years.
Despite my malaise, there is one tradition that I have always maintained. In all the years of doing it I may have missed one year. That activity is carving pumpkins. Not every year has been carving -- there were a few years where we painted them -- but whether they were cut open or just drawn on, the decorating of the pumpkins would be just about the best part of Halloween for me.
The first thing that I do is get pumpkins. Unfortunately my income has never been that great, as I stated above, so taking a nice family trip to the local pumpkin patch never seemed that feasible. To be honest, it was totally feasible, but because of my ex's and my holiday depression, we never made it a priority. We did go to a patch one year and it was a lot of fun, but only going one time in my kids' carving career is weak. When you are strapped for cash you usually end up in one place... Walmart. I have bought waaaay too many pumpkins from that giant evil super store, but when a huge pumpkin costs $4.50 at the mart, and the same pumpkin is $10-$15 at a local place, you go with cheap. Someday I will make enough money where I will never have to step into a Walmart again. Just like most things in life, you do get what you pay for, so the shelf life of these pumpkins is usually very short. For this reason, I usually take the kids to the store as close to Halloween as possible.
Once the pumpkins are purchased, it's time to scoop them out. This is messy, and to me, the best part of the process. Sticking your hand into the "guts" and squeezing is a truly Halloween experience. Do I put down papers or anything to help prevent the innards from getting all over the place? Heck no! Unfortunately my older kids have never seemed to be as excited as I am about this part. I really think that it is all about the cutting for them and they just don't want to be bothered cleaning the pumpkin out. I scoop the guts out and put them in a bowl. When all the guts are out then I slowly separate the seeds to make a delicious healthy snack for the family. Out of all the years I've sorted the seeds, I have only actually cooked the seeds twice. Usually they sit in the bowl for a week or so before we decide to throw them out. They were delicious!
Finally there comes the carving. Every year I look forward to this part and think hard about what I want to carve on my pumpkin. I see all the awesomely-carved pumpkins on the internet and think, I have a degree in art, I can do something amazing. I tell the kids to take a marker and draw their design on their pumpkin before they cut. Some years it has been faces, others super hero symbols. My oldest daughter is a Jack Skellington fanatic, so every year is new Skellington face.
When it comes down to the cutting, I usually end up doing most of it. I would like to say that the kids prefer it this way, but I really think I just end up taking over because I want their pumpkins to come out perfect. (It has nothing to do with my children wielding sharp instruments.) By the time I get done "helping" the kids, I have no desire to do an intricate design for my own pumpkin and just throw a simple face on it. Besides, they are kids, and easily bored. Once their pumpkin is done they want to fly out of the house to enjoy playing in the great outdoors... just kidding. They want to get back to video games on the Wii and the laptop.
The divorce was good for Halloween in that I married a person who, though this is not her favorite holiday, supports me in just about everything I do. I may not get her to sit down to watch a gory movie fest, but if I wanted to invite a bunch of people over to do that, she would be in the other room, trying to ignore the sounds of zombies eating people. If I decided to invest in a 20-foot tall inflatable headless horseman, she would let me get it. I'd probably have to set it up behind the garage, but still, she would not say no to me buying it.
The most important thing that my wife has done for me for Halloween (and all holidays for that matter) is, given me an awesome daughter. She is now two and a half years old and really starting to figure this all out. We sat her down at the table with some markers and let her do her own pumpkin this year. It's just a bunch of scribble on a pumpkin but hey, she's only two and a half. With my daughter I get another chance to create a new Halloween fan and do all the things that I cannot do with my oldest three. I get to start new traditions with her and watch her discover the joys of Halloween. "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" is coming on, I think that we will have to introduce this to her.
"Each year, the Great Pumpkin rises out of the pumpkin patch that he thinks is the most sincere. He's gotta pick this one. He's got to. I don't see how a pumpkin patch can be more sincere than this one. You can look around and there's not a sign of hypocrisy. Nothing but sincerity as far as the eye can see." - Linus
Happy Halloween Everyone!
