Sunday, October 20th. Tonight we will carve pumpkins, perhaps put in John Carpenter’s Halloween, a seasonal tradition as we sit at the newspaper covered dining room table, mulling over designs, scooping cool, mushy pumpkin brain into a bowl.
One of my earliest Halloween memories is baking pumpkin seeds with my sister, I was probably 4 or 5. Since then, I don’t recall too many pumpkins carved growing up. It seems as if I did more of that after I went out on my own, as my love for Halloween and spooky things stayed with me through life.
Carving pumpkins always brings back Halloween memories. We lived on a dirt road, which added to the rustic feel of our neighborhood, which had numerous wooded vacant lots. We also made our costumes, they were not store bought. Now, I’m glad for that, as I feel it forced us to get creative and make do with what we had.
Even the house across the street resembled the Myers house from the movie Halloween, having a similar design and architecture. I still remember walking up the driveway with my plastic orange pumpkin, as the moon cast shadows of tree branches on the white siding. I’ll never forget the homemade popcorn balls that Mrs. Caperton gave out every year, and the long strings of pennies held together with scotch tape that the Aubes would lower into our bags.
My most vivid memory is Halloween night around 1980. The neighbor kids next door attended a Baptist church, and Halloween night fell on the same night they attended during the week. So, a group of families from church moved Trick or Treating to the night before, and I was invited to join. Trick or Treating two nights in a row? Sign me up!
About halfway through the night, we went around a cul de sac of homes, which had a circular mound of grass in the center of the cul de sac. A graveyard scene was constructed there, with a sign that I’ve never forgotten to this day:
“You think I’m dead, but I’m just sleeping..
When you’re in bed, I’ll come creeping..”
Even at 7, I thought it was awesome. Not scary, awesome. It added to my love for all things creepy, which continues to this day. Join me as we wrap up 12 more days until Halloween, and more festivities to come!
My momma is the best at making pumpkin seeds! That’s what I always remember too!
🙂 She sure is! xoxoxo
Halloween is a fairly new holiday for me, i haven’t tried carving a pumpkin yet, it just seems too messy for me, maybe if someday we have a kid i will end up trying it.
🙂 It’s a tradition for us.. We don’t have kids either and we still color Easter eggs! LOL