Trick-or-treating, decorating the house and carving
pumpkins into jack-o’-lanterns, just some of the fun things my kids enjoy
during Halloween. Ever since my daughter Randi was just a few months old we
took her to a pumpkin patch. I have a picture of my husband, me and her sitting
on a hay stack surrounded by pumpkins.
It has been a tradition since than to take our girls
now 9 and 7 to the pumpkin patch each year to pick out their favorite pumpkin.
We usually dedicate one night a few weeks before Halloween to go and search for
that perfect pumpkin at the local church pumpkin patch. The girls take their
time walking up and down the rows of pumpkins trying to find the best pumpkin
that they think would be good for carving.
When my girls were younger, my husband would carve
the pumpkins for them. Now that they are older, they can do it.
We have a tradition for carving the pumpkins that our
friends the Iovinos started a few years ago at their house. It’s called a carving
party. Everyone brings their pumpkins, we dress up in costumes, we sit outside
and carve the pumpkins. Last year they got high tech and let us use power tools
to help carve out parts of the pumpkins. It is always a lot of fun!
One other tradition started a few years ago was a
Halloween party on Halloween night that my parents throw. They started it to
celebrate my nephew’s birthday which is very close to Halloween. Because we
have a pretty big family with lots of little ones, it is a way to get everyone
together. We have dinner and the kids get to trick-or treat around my parent’s
neighborhood. It seems to get bigger and bigger each year. Last year my nephew
decided to make a haunted house in my parent’s garage. It was a big hit with
the trick-or-treaters and the neighborhood kids.
Halloween is a great time for block parties and a
great time to get to know your neighbors by taking your kids around in their
costumes and meeting those you live next door to.
What is interesting to me is the origin of
Halloween. I recently looked up Halloween to find out how it originated and
found out that it has been around since 1745 and is of Christian origin. Since
then, Halloween or All Hallows’ Eve has been observed on October 31st the eve of the Western Christian feast of All
Hallows’ Day or all Saints’ Day which is on November 1st and All
Souls’ Day which is on November 2nd. The three days are collectively
known as Hallowmas and is a time for honoring the saints. I bet most people
would have never guessed the origin with the way Halloween is portrayed in
today’s society.
It is funny how things change over time. I am
noticing though more churches having Harvest Festivals for kids and their
families. A lot of churches incorporate trunk-or-treat into their festival.
Trunk-or-treat is when people decorate their vehicles and line them up in a
parking lot and kids go around from trunk to trunk and get candy. Halloween can be a fun holiday for kids
between all the pumpkins, festivals, candy and costumes.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.