Halloween 2018 Family Activities

Halloween is my favorite time of the year!  Here are just a few photos from 2018 featuring my son, Luke!  Luke doesn't share my passion with Halloween, but he does respect the holiday and enjoys it as much as any kid his age. I'm hoping to make each Halloween as special and as fun as possible for him, so that maybe when he's an adult, he'll look back and realize why Mom loved Halloween so much!

Luke and Aaron work on their jack-o-lantern at Hurricane City Park.  We're so lucky that our town offers this fun activity every Halloween!  Usually the Sunday before Halloween, the mayor (Scott Edward) and various city businesses come together to host this free, family-friendly event!  FREE pumpkins are given out to anyone who wants to carve one, and carving tools and patterns are available for anyone who needs them.  Everyone sits on a large tarp in the middle of Hurricane City Park and creates their masterpieces for the contest!  There are various age categories, but we never get to see the winners because Luke has this weird, adverse thing to being judged, and refused to enter the contest, lol.  So, we carve our pumpkin, eat our free chocolate chip cookies and drink our free hot chocolate, provided by Sheetz.

Trick-or-treat time!  Luke and Brooke tend to choose matching or complementary costumes.  This year, he went with the inflatable dinosaur, and she chose an inflatable unicorn.  That costume ATE batteries, so luckily we packed plenty of extras, and he was able to make it around the subdivision without deflating.  Brooke's lil' brother made an adorable Buzz LightYear, and Emmalin from across the street had a beautiful witchy costume.  

Since it was going to be pretty impossible for Luke to wear this dinosaur costume to his school Halloween party, he went with a backup costume for that occasion.  This pirate costume was $5 at Walmart! For $5, I thought that was a pretty awesome deal, and honestly, it didn't look any cheaper than the more expensive costumes.  We bought him an added sword (which he wasn't able to take to school) and a hook hand. 

Luke and I channeled our inner Pinterest goddess/god and made these Nutter Butter cookies dipped in white chocolate.  Some were ghosts, some were mummies, and the rest were monsters.  The two I made are at the bottom of this picture.  We had a really fun time doing this, and it was so easy to do.  And, they were quite tasty! 

3-D Monster Pops

Holy Halloween!  I just got a huge kick of nostalgia, right in the feels this evening!  I was just scrolling through Facebook, minding my own business, when an article posted to Haunter's Hangout caught my eye.  A member of the group shared this post about zombie popsicle molds.  Normally, a zombie popsicle mold wouldn't necessarily catch my attention; while I do love frozen treats, I'm not a huge zombie fan.  But, as soon as my eye skimmed the accompanying photo, it was like a part of me automatically zoomed back to my childhood as I remembered eating monster popsicles.  Looking at the photo, I could literally feel that awesome sensation of my tongue going over all the little nooks and crannies offered by the unique designs, including Dracula, a mummy, Frankenstein's Monster, and possibly a skeleton.

The photo that sparked the memory. Source

Before that moment, I had completely forgotten these popsicles even existed. I hadn't thought about them for years, and now all of a sudden, I'm flooded with memories.  Memories are now a little fuzzy, but I'm pretty sure the only times I actually ate these were at my grandparents' house in Beckley, WV.  I grew up near Charleston, and I don't remember eating them at home, but I'm not sure if that's because we couldn't find them here...or my mom wouldn't buy them for me.

I'm also not 100% sure the time frame that I had these.  I remember eating them at my grandparents' old house, and I'm pretty sure it was before I was 10, so sometime probably between 1985 and 1992. I also don't think these were limited to just Halloween---I'm pretty sure they were available year round.  Anyway, like I'm apt to do, I went to Google to see if I could find anything out about my beloved childhood treat.

The Monster Pops from my childhood. Dracula was my favorite! Source

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find out much, but I was thrilled to find a photo at least proving that I wasn't totally crazy; these things actually existed.  The picture above comes from the Gone But Not Forgotten Groceries Blog, which notes that they don't own the photo and aren't sure who does. The blog and its comments offered some good insight, though.  Turns out these 3-D Monster Pops were manufactured by the Good Humor and came in boxes of 12. When the author of the blog reached out to Good Humor, they couldn't provide any information.  Flavors included grape, orange, and cherry.  Like me, a lot of people commenting on the post remember eating these in the mid to late 1980's, but they could have been around as early as the 1970's and some people reported finding them in their local store as late as the latter half of the 1990's. It also seems like from the comments that these were marketed largely to the southern states; one person was even located in my general area of southern West Virginia.

I'm absolutely craving one of these 3-D Monster Pops now, so maybe I'll have to buy those zombie molds, if anything, in an attempt to recreate that unique sensation of a 3-D popsicle on my tongue. And, obviously, I'd love to know more about these!  If you know anything about these frozen delights, or have any memories of eating them yourself, please let me know in the comments below.

The Master of Horror Wishes You a Merry Christmas!

Master of Horror, Vincent Price, is far more commonly associated with Halloween than he is Christmas.  But, the Yule season is actually a pretty spooky one, filled with witches, ghost stories, monsters, and plenty of supernatural superstitions. With that in mind, Vincent Price posing beside a Christmas tree seems a little more...normal?

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Witching You a Very Merry Christmas!

It's time for a Witchy Wednesday: Christmas Edition.  Now THIS is the kind of Christmas greeting card I would have loved to receive! Around the Victorian era through the early 1900's, holiday greeting cards were a lot more hard core, and sometimes, downright WEIRD.  This example isn't too far out there, but it certainly doesn't scream CHRISTMAS, at least by modern standards.  Don't quote me on this, but I BELIEVE this particular holiday postcard was put out by De La Rue. De La Rue was an English company dating back to around 1813.  They made Christmas cards (and some of their work is REALLY odd!) from about 1872 to 1885. 

 Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Witches!

Want MORE creepy, crazy Victorian Christmas cards? Bored Panda has collected at least 57 examples of dead birds, devils, and lots and lots of frogs, all wishing YOU a very merry holiday season!

Happy Independence Day!

It may only be July 4th, but that's no reason to forget Halloween!  Happy Independence Day, everyone...Halloween is just around the corner!

Happy Pi Day!

Happy Halloween!  Uh, I mean, Happy Pi Day! Celebrate this March 14th with a big slice of pumpkin pie---Donald Duck approved. 

Harvey Harmer and His Pumpkins

Harvey Harmer is serious about his pumpkins!  The Clarksburg, West Virginia man is show here proudly showing off his 1914 crop of gourds.  All four pumpkins, ranging from 38 lbs. to 104 lbs., came from a single vine.  That's pretty darn impressive! 

This wonderful old image was found on the WV History on View website, which notes that Harvey Walker Harmer was born in 1865 and died in 1961.  In addition to his farming accomplishments, Harmer was a lawyer, local historian/author, and a state senator representing Harrison County.  Here's a fascinating article on Harmer's integral role in the controversial 'American Constitutional Association' and his role of chairman for the America First Day celebration.