The Friday Five: Celebrating Halloween

This week the Friday Five is about celebrating Halloween.

1. How did you celebrate this time of year when you were a child? When I was a little girl we weren't home for a lot of Halloweens. My dad managed the LA branch of what was then the Lutheran Church Supply Store. Later it became Fortress and now Augsburg Fortress. Every year for eight years we went to the Lutheran Church Women's annual convention held near Monterey at the Asilomar Retreat Center. It was much better than trick or treating! We got off from school for the week. Hundreds of "ladies" watched my sisters and I grow up. They brought us treats, took our picture and generally fussed over us. One memorable year Papa Joe asked us to each read a book. Then he put us on stools on a stage (see below) in front of hundreds of women and interviewed us. We gave our book reviews and of course, Dad sold out of those three books in a flash.


I think if you asked my sisters we would gladly trade a big bag of candy for a week at Asilomar any time.

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? We don't overly fuss. There's way too much candy and decorations are usually to a minimum. Soda Chicky still wants to dress up. "It's free candy, Mom!"

When I was in the parish there was always a night of youth ministry that required dressing up. I kind of miss it.

2 again... Candy apples: Do you prefer red cinnamon or caramel covered? Or something else? I would rather not eat it if it's red cinnamon. Caramel by all means and if it has salted nuts and chocolate- even better!

3. Do you do Jack O'Lanterns? Any other ideas what to do with them? Sometimes... One year when I was in seminary and feeling very "Less is More" I cut up the pumpkin after Halloween and froze the pulp. We had pumpkin soup and later a fresh frozen pumpkin pie. I prefer the canned to the real stuff.

4. Do you decorate your home for fall or Halloween? If so, what do you do? Bonus points for pictures. Nothing worth taking pictures of.

5. Do you like pretending to be something different? Does a costume bring out an alternate personality? I love dress up! Always have. Dressing up tends to bring out the comic actress that lies somewhere beneath the skin.

Bonus: Share your favorite recipe for an autumn food, particularly apple or pumpkin ones. I love your basic Betty Crocker apple crisp with some pecans thrown in for fun. Then serve it with really expensive vanilla ice cream and the richest caramel sauce you can come up with.