Pumpkins and apples and ghosts, oh my!

A Halloween RGPB Friday 5

1. How did you celebrate this time of year when you were a child?

We went trick-or-treating, of course. Hallowe'en wasn't such a Hallmark holiday when I was a kid, and it didn't extend for weeks. We usually had some sort of Hallowe'en party at school and then trick-or-treated in the early evening. The most decorating we ever did was to carve a jack-o-lantern. And when I was very little, we collected pennies for Unicef either on Hallowe'en or a day before or after.

2. Do you and/or your family “celebrate” Halloween? Why or why not? And if you do, has it changed from what you used to do?

My kids always trick-or-treated. And I've decorated some, but not the last two years, because we don't have any kids close around. When the Kid was little we lived in condo and there were lots of kids around. We'd have pumpkins and spider webs and sometimes scary music. And at seminary we always had fun at Hallowe'en on the close. I even dressed up there (as Dumbledore and as a witch).

Hallowe'en is much more elaborate than it used to be. And it seems like costumes have to be more elaborat, too. I enjoy it, but I'm not over the top with it.

2. Candy apples: Do you prefer red cinnamon or caramel covered? Or something else?

Red cinnamon. But it's hard to get good candy apples. I hate when the apples are all mushy inside.

3. Pumpkins: Do you make Jack O’ Lanterns? Any ideas of what else to do with them?

Just jack-o-lanterns. Although I love pumpkin pie and pumpkin muffins and pumpkin bagels and pumpkin ice cream and pumpkin soup and....well, you get the idea, I've never actually cooked the pumpkin from scratch, and I was never able to roast the seeds so they were good, either.

4. Do you decorate your home for fall or Halloween? If so, what do you do?

See above, but not the last couple of years.

5. Do you like pretending to be something different? Does a costume bring our an alternate personality?

There's a part of me deep inside that wants to be totally outrageous (in a good way of course) but I just can't pull it off. I did really like dressing up as Dumbledore, though. And I went to chapel in my witch costume once.