Happy Halloween!
Well, today is the day of trick or treaters and the kids dressing up in costumes. Alexis is a ladybug and Logan is a dragon. They should be WAY cute! Katya dressed up as a punk rocker for her friend's party last Friday night. I'll post pics tomorrow.
Tonight is our traditional time to carve our pumpkins. Not sure why we usually wait until Halloween day, but we do. Unfortunately I won't be carving a pumpkin this year. Mine has decided to start rotting already. Yulk. I think I will be either drawing or painting a face on it. I have a great witch hat so that can cover the ooky part by the stem. I was planning on doing the same thing for Alexis and Logan's pumpkins too. They should turn out cute.
Yesterday Bob decorated our front porch with black lights, a giant 5 foot green spider web complete with huge gross spiders, a glow in the dark happy skeleton and a few little hanging signs. We still have webbing to put up everywhere, but that will be when Katya gets home. It should be fun! Bob is planning on taking Alexis out trick or treating to our neighbors to show off just how cute she is. Talk about a proud papa.
Well, I figured that I would leave you all with a bit of Halloween history.
History of the Jack O'Lantern
The Irish brought the tradition of the Jack O'Lantern to America. But, the original Jack O'Lantern was not a pumpkin.The Jack O'Lantern legend goes back hundreds of years in Irish History. As the story goes, Stingy Jack was a miserable, old drunk who liked to play tricks on everyone: family, friends, his mother and even the Devil himself. One day, he tricked the Devil into climbing up an apple tree. Once the Devil climbed up the apple tree, Stingy Jack hurriedly placed crosses around the trunk of the tree. The Devil was then unable to get down the tree. Stingy Jack made the Devil promise him not to take his soul when he died. Once the devil promised not to take his soul, Stingy Jack removed the crosses and let the Devil down.
Many years later, when Jack finally died, he went to the pearly gates of Heaven and was told by Saint Peter that he was too mean and too cruel and had led a miserable and worthless life on earth. He was not allowed to enter heaven. He then went down to Hell and the Devil. The Devil kept his promise and would not allow him to enter Hell. Now Jack was scared and had nowhere to go but to wander about forever in the darkness between heaven and hell. He asked the Devil how he could leave as there was no light. The Devil tossed him an ember from the flames of Hell to help him light his way. Jack placed the ember in a hollowed out Turnip, one of his favorite foods which he always carried around with him whenever he could steal one. For that day onward, Stingy Jack roamed the earth without a resting place, lighting his way as he went with his "Jack O'Lantern".
On all Hallow's eve, the Irish hollowed out Turnips, rutabagas, gourds, potatoes and beets. They placed a light in them to ward off evil spirits and keep Stingy Jack away. These were the original Jack O'Lanterns. In the 1800's a couple of waves of Irish immigrants came to America. The Irish immigrants quickly discovered that Pumpkins were bigger and easier to carve out. So they used pumpkins for Jack O'Lanterns.
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