Tricks, Treats and Traditions

(Photo courtesy of Flickr)

Tricks

Trick or Treat? That is the question of the day. On Halloween, most people follow the tradition of simply loading up the kid's bags with sweet candy treats. However, there are some who get their thrills by playing tricks. When I was a little girl of five, my sister and I had our first glimpse of the spooky side. We were both probably dressed up like princesses, and we were going about our duty of collecting as much candy as possible. Our bags were beginning to get heavy when approached "the house". It looked like a normal house. Glowing pumpkins on the steps and a festive scarecrow on the front porch. We didn't think twice as we strode up the driveway. We climbed the front steps in anticipation of being greeted with candy, but instead were scared to death when the scarecrow jumped up and tried to grab us! It was our neighbor dressed up complete with a pumpkin on his head! We ran screaming down the driveway. I'm pretty sure we didn't go back up to get the candy!

Treats

Here is a twist on my favorite classic Halloween treat, Carmel Apple Cheesecake. Yum!

Traditions

Tradition 1: Every year on Halloween we made a big pot of hot chili. I think this tradition started in part because the chili warmed us up before going out into the cold.

Tradition 2: In the weeks before Halloween we trek out to the pumpkin farm and select the perfect pumpkin. We carve , then we line our masterpieces up on the hearth and admire our handiwork.

Tradition 3: After gathering candy, we would come home and dump out our stash on the floor. We'd then divide it by type of candy, and were on a constant sugar high in the weeks to come.

Have a happy Halloween!