what is your favorite things about halloween

[dark master]

I absolute love halloween!this is my favorite holiday! I love decorating the house and all the spookiness that goes on in october,my absolute favorite.

[Murfreesboro]

Oh, my! How to pick just one favorite thing about Halloween?

I guess, for me, seeing the carved pumpkins lit, at a little distance, in the darkness, is maybe the best part of it. When you see several, or maybe a whole lot of them, together, that is just magic to me.

I love seeing hordes of costumed masqueraders around the streets, because it begins to seem like a block party or street carnival. But I also love when everything is quiet, and you see only barren tree branches and the moon in the sky.

October is, hands down, my favorite month of the year. The days can be crystal clear and crisp, and the sky--is it ever bluer than in October? And the trees start to turn. In a good year, they turn into flames of gold and orange and red. They almost glow in the dark under the street lights. You start to smell the leaf mold when they fall, and it is a good smell, an earthy smell. Inside homes, you start to smell the smells of fall baking--the pumpkin bread and the warm spiced cider and the casseroles made with winter produce, all the squashes and sweet potatoes. You can roast pumpkin seeds, which have the crispness of popcorn and taste like nuts. Your dinner might center around a pork roast, or a beef roast, or a crock pot filled with chili and topped with sour cream & shredded cheese.

I love the corn mazes, the hay rides, the bonfires, the haunted attractions, the ghost stories, the scary movies. It is a month of harvest and outdoor fun before winter, of community fellowship, of humor and mystery and magic. Anything seems just possible at Halloween.

[Midnite Shadow]

Very well said Murf and i agree 100%!! All of those things encompass a little of the magic and mystery of Halloween and for every single one of us it isn't just one thing but a lot of them...sometimes it is the woodsmoke in the air on a crisp fall evening that invokes and conjurs up images of Halloween's past or the sight of Jack o' lanterns lit up and aglow in the window or on the front porches of houses...the fake cemeteries and spider webs stretched over trees and bushes....the pumpkin bags that are used to collect fall leaves and the dangling of ghosts and specteres from tree limbs bring a smile to my face.

All of the shows on TV are Halloween related and spooky and scary movies rule the nighttime...the fall Harvest with Pumpkin Patches and Haunted Hay Rides with hot apple cider and pumkin pie leaves a mark on a childs brain and stays there as the years go by and that child becomes the parent and gets to impart those traditions and start some new ones as well.

As a child it was the thrill of putting on a costume and going around and TOTing for candy and seeing who could get the most and watching 'It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" when I got home...but it has evolved into so many things now...Vampires, Witches, Werewolves and Ghosts...Haunted Houses, Paranormal Shows on TV, Scooby Doo movies for my kids and Creepy Cemeteries late at night for me...the images are endless and the sense of wonder and that child that fell in love with this holiday many many moons ago is still very much alive and well and Halloween is one of the few times of year where that child is allowed to celebrate and be what I want to be...

[Pumpkin56]

Murf and Midnight said it perfectly. There is no other time of the year that is even remotely close to Halloween. It stands alone and it is the only time when anything goes

[Pumpkin_Man]

Like Murf, I don't think I can just pick one thing, but if I had to in a pinch, I would say it was carving a jack o'lantern. That's THE quintisential Halloween tradition for me. Just like stuffing a turkey on Thanksging, trimming a Christmas tree, or coloring Easter eggs, carving a jack o'lantern is an INDESPENSIBLE tradition in my Halloween celebration.

Mike

[Pumpkin56]

Yeah I suppose if I had to narrow it down to just one thing, it would be the jacks. I have so many of them--maybe too many as I am running out of room to store them--but I can't help myself. I HAVE to carve pumpkins every year!

[Lillith]

The smell of the leaves on rainy days, the color in the trees.
Great sunsets and longer nights. Halloween programming and staying up late to watch.
The crisp air and corn mazes. Haunted hayrides and haunted houses. ToT'ers and costumes.
The sounds of childrens' laughter as they help decorate the house and yard.
That special feel that only October brings.

[Andybev01]

If only allowed one I'd pick pumpkins as well.

[ramaries69]

My fellow pumpkinheads, have summarized it ALL, for me! I agree wholeheartedly.

[dark master]

My fellow pumpkinheads, have summarized it ALL, for me! I agree wholeheartedly.

I agree to and must say carving pumpkins would be mine if i had one choice,just did not finish my answer sorry mates

[killem2]

Dressing up for my horror movie friends parties. Its awesome.

[Lillith]

Oh I missed saying carving pumpkins!

[JonH]

going with the theme of the jack 'o lanterns - is there any better smell in the world than that certain smell the fills the air when all of the neighborhood jack 'o lanterns' candles are burning? that burning-pumpkin smell, THAT instantly takes me back to timeless memories that stretch back into childhood.

[Jack Skellington]

Everyone has said it! I agree with what you've all said! Mine would be Jack O'Lanterns too if I had to pick one. I picked up 4 pumpkins the other day, gunna buy some more next week too!

I'll be walking home from work soon. The sun is setting & there's a crisp, cold air around. LOVE IT!

[johnsoneliza52]

Costumes...its fun to be someone else one night of the year