{"id":2165,"date":"2022-10-29T00:36:09","date_gmt":"2022-10-29T04:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kakahead.com\/?p=2165"},"modified":"2022-10-29T00:36:09","modified_gmt":"2022-10-29T04:36:09","slug":"a-halloween-tradition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/kakahead.com\/?p=2165","title":{"rendered":"A Halloween Tradition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For many moons now, we’ve enjoyed the ritual of pumpkin carving prior to Halloween. Our son-in-law has been providing the gourds for the past several years from his pumpkin patch. My Beautiful Girlfriend puts on a big pot of her amazing chili, complemented by some delicious corn muffins. After dinner we spread newspapers all over the kitchen table, put a bucket in the middle for all the guts, and let our imaginations soar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once the jack o’ lanterns are complete, it’s time for the traditional group photos. We line up our artwork on the breakfast bar, and each carver sits behind their sculpture. I set my camera on a tripod, set the timer, and take a couple shots with the lights on. Finally we open the pumpkins to light the candles, kill the lights, and get a shot with each person’s face glowing in the night above their respective pumpkins. We’ve had some pretty cool photos over the years if I must say so myself. Here are a couple samples from this year’s carving fun.<\/p>\n\n\n

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We’ve also subjected our grandsons to annual viewings of It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.<\/em> This is an old favorite of course, especially so in the case of my Honey Pie. Very important for her to watch that flick every year, and I have to admit that I enjoy it too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ollie, our oldest grandson is 13 this year, Gabe is 9. Both watched the movie politely and even enjoyed it… but Ollie mentioned he’d like to watch something a little more terrifying for Halloween. I mentioned Frankenstein, <\/em>and his eyes lit up a bit. I followed up with a suggestion of Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein <\/em>and a big grin brightened up his face. But guess who’s gonna enjoy trick-or-treating more on Monday?? If you guessed both, I’m thinking that’s accurate; although Gabe will likely be more pumped up about the whole deal. But this is part of the tradition too, and of course we’ll accompany them on their candy collection journey. As a bonus, it’s at least as much fun to enjoy the getups of other <\/strong><\/em>people’s kids (and often their parents) as we traipse through the neighborhoods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I began writing all this I couldn’t help reflecting on how blessed we are to have a loving family that enjoys such annual celebrations. I know \u201cHappy Friday!!!\u201d is often a vehicle for me to present a humorous spin on things (and often be just plain silly), but once in a while it’s good to let the gratitude fly out of my fingers and onto the keyboard. So Monday brings yet another Halloween, complete with walking a few miles while the grandsons go trick-or-treating. Doesn’t get much better than that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And we might even mooch some candy!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now please to enjoy the seasonal video surprises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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