Growing Up Halloween Pt. 7

Ms. Nightingale The Medic

"Keith..", "Keith.." Francis was kneeling over his friend. The sickness he felt inside his head had subsided for now, and his nose was tinged with the sulphur and smoke that hung even lower than the fog. After a moment, Keith moved his hand toward his head and attempted to sit up even though his friend was on top of him. "Get up Francis, get off!" "Where were you two anyways?" "I remember falling down, but that's it." At that moment, the ground exploded just a few feet away. Then the sound. It was the weirdest thing at that moment, but once again, everything was turned upside down. KABOOOOM! BaBOOB! BaBaBOOM! One ofter another the sound of faraway shots were announced first by the shake of the ground, and the crater of earth that was showered all around. "What is GOING ON!?" Keith seemed like he hadn't heard any of the original fighting. Maybe he had been out longer than any of them thought. Now that their small troupe wasmtogether once again, there wasn't enought time to ask those questions. Now was the perfect time to get the heck out of Dodge, and the next thing that happened was Francis pulling Keith to his feet, grabbing Eric's jacket sleeve, and bolting toward where he thought was the way out. Out of this fight, out of this walk, out of this Autumn morning fog that had strapped them all into what seemed to be an endless collection of fear and panic that any boy should bear.
"Leave us ALONE!" We didn't do Anything!, stop shooting at US!. The shouting he was doing was about all he could do not to just sit right down and give up. The three of them were a short human chain. The last link Eric, half ran, half faltered the entire run from where there were to where they were. Inside the same fog, in the same grass, and land that they were before they started. Like the forst step on a slippery pond frozen over by the cold, this grass was frosted and stiff and steaming back into the sky. What could have happened to cause these things to happen could not be imagined, all that could be considered was escape. As the three boys humched over in rapid breathes from running like they did, a sound came from aways. "FFFFFFFFFFFFRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNCIS!""FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNCIS!" As familiar as your own skin, that sound signified home and safety. For that sound was not from the field. Not from the cannons and guns. Not from anywhere but from home. The sound of his ma calling from the back step of his house which seemed so close now that she was here.

The Ultimate Halloween Party

by Bethany Sanders Oct 15th 2008 8:00AM

As my daughter reminded me this morning, there are only 15 days left until Halloween. Halloween falls on a Friday this year, perfect for trick-or-treating that runs past bedtime, but also a great opportunity to throw a Halloween party.Before you start thinking, A Halloween party? Now I have to entertain in addition to making costumes, baking cupcakes, and buying candy?, consider this. A Halloween party is a great way to enjoy time as a family, spend time with busy friends, or avoid going door-to-door, if trick-or-treating just isn't your thing.A Family PartyA party need not include guests. Instead, send invitations to your kids inviting them to a family Halloween bash, right in your kitchen. Here are some ideas for making this night of family fun more memorable:

Come in costume ... the young and the young at heart. Your kids will appreciate your enthusiasm.

Start with dinner, appropriately gruesome for the holiday -- try spaghetti and eyeballs, bat wings, and a cauldron full of witches brew.

Now it's time to have fun! Carve a pumpkin and have a seed spitting contest; load the wagon with hay and go on a "hayride"; or have a candy scavenger hunt in your backyard.

End the night with an easy craft (try one of these), then curl up in bed with some popcorn to watch a Halloween movie together, like The Nightmare Before Christmas, Beetlejuice, or It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!. Or finish of the night with a not-too-scary book for little ones like Go Away Big Green Monster!.A Bigger BashFeeling up to a bigger party that includes family, friends and/or neighbors?

Try some of these ideas:

Consider a theme: Think pumpkin carving, monster mash, haunted house, or even fall/harvest.
Hold a Best Costume contest, with plenty of categories so that everyone can receive a prize.
Keep everyone busy with a game or two. Try Zombie Tag or Spider Relays, get them giggling with Mummy Wrap, or set up a pumpkin bowling alley.

Don't forget the creepy cuisine! Kaboose has an excellent list of simple spooky recipes, while those with a little more experience in the kitchen (and time on their hands) might want to try some of Family Fun's more involved recipes. Remember -- the little touches mean a lot. Freeze water inside plastic gloves, then peel and float these "hands" in your punch bowl. You can also freeze gummy worms in ice cubes for a slimy surprise!

Time to wrap it up? Settle everyone down with a craft. Buy mini-pumpkin gourds and supply paints, glitter, and craft supplies for decorating. Older kids might like making a candle-"eye"-bra. Or send everyone home with their own yummy-mummy treat cups. The most important part of your Halloween party should be your child's participation in the process. They can make invitations, plan and put up decorations, gather materials for crafts and games, and help out in the kitchen, all the while building excitement for this spooky night of memory making.

Growing Up Halloween Pt. 6

Lt. Lafleur, French Captain of the Guard

Before the next explosion came, Eric and Francis stood frozen in space. When you become so scared in an instant, the body revolts. Francis's insides were suddenly outside as if every inch of him were feeling a touch at the same moment. his blood rushed quickly to the surface of any surface, the hair stood up stiff from the root. Terror is something that is prolonged, but what occurred right after the first report was instantaneous fear, which gripped each friend for an instant in time making them unable to respond physically. The explosion was more than just a sound. A violent shake of the ground seemed to happen as the shock wave that was created caused the boys to fall to the ground. The fog that contained everything pushed and fell back into place as the shock pulsed through it. The fog which was so nice to look through just minutes...or hours before, had become solid and thick with the smell of sulphur.

KA-BOOOOM..BA-BOOOM, two more extremely loud reports went off from the opposite side of the field, and now in between, there were men yelling. Yelling at each other in anger. From the small theater that was the fog, these voices made the fog huge. from over a distance now could be heard more explosions and yelling a sound of what neither boy could relate to, but it was here, all around them.




"KEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTHHHHH!!!!!!" KEEEEEEEEEEEEEITH!!" Eric began to call for his brother now in earnest. This boy had had enough, and his "scared" turned to terror. As if a realization had occurred, and the youngest friend had concluded on his own that it was his time to get things back to normal. Normal as far as he could make it, and the next best thing was to have his older brother around to take charge of the situation. For Eric trusted Keith to get them both out of any situation. Blood is thicker than water we always said.. Francis agreed inside with Eric too. It would be better to have three instead of two. When Eric stopped calling, Francis would start. They picked themselves up off the ground and made way toward what they thought was the far side of the field. If Keith had kept walking before everything went crazy, he could have made it to the sand pit and be waiting there for them.

What they wanted to do was walk, but now a regular beat of explosions had begun, and they were left to crawling on all fours as each explosion shook the Earth and air around them. They had gone about half-way to the pits when Eric found Keith. "Francis!!" "KEITH'S HURT!! Just because Eric found Keith first and was only a couple of feet ahead, was proof that the fog was still around. More smoke than fog maybe, the scent remained to burn the nostrils with each breathe, you could see the smoke when you exhaled, and as Francis got closer to Keith's face, he could see that his friend was blowing the same smoke out his mouth and nose. He could have been asleep. He could be faking. He could have fainted. But no, Francis could see that there was a patch of blond hair above his temple that was wet and red. What could have been a great way to end this whole event had become an even worse occurrence. More and more Francis felt like inside his head was been spun like a machine. Inside moving so fast while outside so slow. He felt like this on long car rides and tall building, but he felt like that now. Once again an instant scared feeling secured him to the spot. When the moment passed scared turned to fright, and then to determination because that's what you do when you have nothing else to do but cry.

Growing Up Halloween Pt.4

A Short-Cut

As soon as Keith and Francis reached the edge of the field, the morning mist took control of the day. It took only a few steps in between friends to make one disappear from view. "Keith...", "Eric?".."Hey, where did you guys go?.." It seemed as if this mist had carried Francis far away from where he once stood. Without moving a muscle, the sound of someone yelling far off in the distance was heard. "FRrrr rrrrrrrrrr rrrrraaa aaaaaaa ncis!" "Frrrr rrrrrr ranc" "Here I am!!" "I'm over here!" Francis let out a sharp report before the second call had finished the call. "Where are you guys?" The mist was still blocking out all but the muted sunlight that fights its way against a fog. The sun was all that gave the scene a grip on reality as what appear to happen cannot have happened. How it came to be that now his friends were no longer right by his side, but almost too far away to be heard when yelling out a call.





The Separation

Once again the sound of footsteps were close by. "Francis..where did you go?"... That was Eric, Francis was glad that one of the brothers was close by because for as fast as it all happened, this trip in the field was causing alot of delay in their walk to school. "I'm right here Eric, where's Keith?" Eric was close enough now to be seen. "He was right in front of me." "I don't know, he must have missed you and went right on by..KEITH!" The air was still cold enough so that any breathing added to the thickness of the mist. When you shouted, a lrge growing plume of condensed breath could be seen to push and blend with the surrounding fog. While both Francis and Eric had reconnected in the mist, in the field that was supposed to be a morning short-cut, they still had to gather up Keith, and get along with their walk. What was supposed to be a short mornig excursion, had turned out to be a pain in the neck. Without figuring out exactly what had happened in the mist so far, Francis and Eric looked to call out to Keith until the three of them were together again.

Growing up Halloween Pt. 3

The Battlefield

It is more now than it was then. Then was a rolling rectangle of land with boundries that could be seen, and the sands of the pit being the farthest sight. This cold Autumn morning included a fog and steams of battle, slowly moving from one end of the battlefield to the other. Francis realized as soon as the it was in plain view, that this morning had something more to offer than just a cold walk in the woods.




The Brothers Lang

"Francis!" "Wait up!" Alerted to the sound of someone running up to him, Francis looked to see his friend coming down the street. "I thought you were going to come and get us this morning..?" Keith Lang asked through quick bursts of morning breaths of steam from mouth and nose, the result of a quick sprint down the street.

"By the time I got my boots on, and out the door, I forgot that I was supposed to get you guys." "I was only a couple minutes ahead of you anyway...Can we take a short-cut this morning?" Francis pushed through the confusion of who was to do what this morning, and thought that he could avoid Keith's scolding by adding a new twist on the morning's walk to school. "The field looks cool with all the fog that's over there near the ground, and I want to cut through the field today."

Keith and Eric were Francis's best buds. They have known each other their whole lives, and nothing is better than having a couple of good friends to grow up with. The brothers were knee deep in everything that went on in this New England neighborhood, and the three friends did everything together.

Eric was still running up to the troupe, and upon arrival spouted a good-morning before bending over to tie his always untied shoe. It always ended at three, if you saw one, you would see two more close by, because right now was the most average of average moments. Without much of a pause, and before Eric could finish tying hos shoes, Francis and Keith made way for the field, and a short-cut that would turn an average New England moment into a Halloween tale for the ages.

Growing Up Halloween

A Ludlow Halloween

The sun sets early. It's been weeks since the end of burnt umber leaves and rustling sounds of piles pushing against the fence. Drier is the season in New England when October falls. For now, the days are filled with friends and school. Bells ring forever in the crisp rolling airs of Ludlow, and Harris Brook bubbles under the way. Oh, what a sensational moment for a child who while smelling the cordwood freshly blowing up a chimney, thinks about the golblins and ghouls who soon will be running these small town streets for candy, goodies and fun.

Halloween in a 4Seasons Town

Francis pulled on one boot, and noticed the left had once again found the bottom of the cellar stairs. Now was the time of year that smells were at their peak. With the infiltration of Autumn, temperatures drop quickly and rise slowly in the morning. Even in the mud room the wet air of the morning hung low above the floor. Going down the stairs in the morning gave Francis the chance to feel the damp coldness of the cellar where not much went on but laundry. But this morning would be the same as any other which started off with a trip down to the 1st step, the boot catcher who caught foul ball boots, sneakers, socks, and the like.

Morning Retreat

Now that there was more in between bare skin and the encroaching frost finger of Autumn, there would be cereal and toast. Soon the kitchen would empty of the morning crowd. Mom made sure everyone left on time. Autumn in Ludlow was a time that had the feel of Halloween. Dark mornings and early nights mixed with blowing leaves and crisp, whispering winds which carried sounds and smells that screamed of Halloween.

Bandito under Scary Tree Halloween

Adult Scary Tree Deluxe

This Scary Tree Makes A Wonderful Wizard Of Oz Costume or Prop! Additional Information:, One piece deluxe tree costume made from Polyester Foam, Arms Fit In The Branches and You See Through A Mesh Panel In The Front, One Size Fits Most Adults, Material: 100% Polyester




Adult Bandido Deluxe

You'll create your own Legend when you arrive dressed in this extraordinary Spanish Bandido costume. Costume Includes:, Black gauze fabric shirt, Satin cape, Studded belt, Studded gloves, Spanish Gaucho style hat, Fencing sword, Arrives packaged in its own deluxe zippered garment bag, Your own black pants will complete this deluxe quality costume, Pair up with a sexy Spanish Senorita for a passionate couples costume Additional Information:We strongly recommend choosing the Ground shipping option when purchasing this costume. Due to the quality Garment Bag packaging, it will require an oversized box for shipping. Any type of express shipping option will get quite costly. We will contact you prior to shipping the costume if the shipping charges go over our normal rates.

Over and Out Halloween Costume Directory

The D.I.Y. Halloween Contest for Halloween 2007 starts now!

4Seasons Halloween Holiday Store is located HERE. Shop for unique costumes HERE.

Child Deluxe Dinosaur Costume * Adult Sexy Fairy Costume * Adult Plus Premium Vampire Costume * Adult Premium Gothic Vampire * Bunting Fireman Costume * Bunting Policeman Costume * Bunting lil Soldier * Child Punk Skeleton Girl Costume

Searching for great Halloween information and news, the Holiday Netter reports a great Do it Yourself contest from Makezine.com. It includes a great way to interact with a great community of Halloween enthusiasts who are working on D.I.Y. projects.

Visit the Contest Page HERE

Here is an idea what the contest is all about:

Makers and Crafters, it’s time to enter our 2nd annual ghoulishly fun Halloween contests! Anyone, anywhere, can enter all or just some of the contests. We’ll have lots of updates and posts regarding all these, but this announcement is to get you started and planning and has more information about where to enter, and our friends @ Instructables and Popular Science.
We’re calling this year’s contests DIY HALLOWEEN. Last year’s were so big, with thousands of entries, that we even published our first MAKE: Halloween special edition on newsstands right now!
THE DIY HALLOWEEN CONTESTS!Entering is easy: just upload your photos to the DIY HALLOWEEN Flickr photo pool and tag them “DIYHALLOWEEN.”
Or email them to make.magazine@gmail.com
Or put them on Instructables in the MAKE group with a tag “DIYHALLOWEEN” and the "DIY HALLOWEEN" group. When you enter your projects on Instructables be sure to check out their "how to enter" guide too... If you enter your projects there you're automatically entered in the MAKE contest(s)! - Link.
When you take photos, take the best pix you can — see suggestions below — basically we want your high-res photos for a future MAKE Halloween issue!

Hack-o’-Lantern contest: Decorate a pumpkin any way you see fit, or unfit. It’s that easy. Then upload, post the project or email your photos, as described above. We’ll also post a roundup of ways to decorate a pumpkin as it gets closer to Halloween.

Costume contest: Dressing up? Making your own costume? As long as you “make” something, you can enter. Any costume with homemade elements on it, in it, or used with it is OK. Take your best photos and upload, post the project or email them. We’ll continue to post fun costumes and how-tos as well.

Decorations, Haunted house, gadgets, and more contest: Decorations at home, work, wherever, a haunted house, lawn gadgets, anything Halloweeny. If you’re one of those makers or crafters who goes all out and makes their surroundings spooky in some way, take a photo! Throughout the contest, we will spotlight some of our favorite Halloween-related projects to inspire folks.

Food contest: The grosser the better. Brain jello molds, meat heads, rat cakes — we saw some of the grossest food creations last year, let’s top them this year!

Trick-or-Treat contest: This is the easiest one, no photos necessary. If you have a blog, a website, or anything online, just post a link to the Halloween section of MAKE. We will pick 20 people we see linking to us. It works best if you have a blog-like site; we’ll be using the Technorati service to track who is linking to us and our internal logs. You can post a link to us in your sidebar, a link about this contest, anything, really. Do a post about DIY Halloween, it doesn’t matter to us, but we can see it best if it’s on a blog, and making it fun always helps (extra credit if it’s a spooky story).
Prizes!Besides the glory and fame of being a winner of the DIY Halloween Contests, we’re going to give away some stuff. We're working on the complete list (check back soon) but the grand prize is going to be a trip to Maker Faire San Francisco!
The other prizes so far include just about everything found in our Maker store - kits, books and more!
DeadlineHave your entries in before Sunday, Nov. 4, 2007, at 1:59 p.m. EST. We’re giving you a little time to take photos and get them up post-Halloween, but you can enter any time, starting now. Contest is open to anyone on planet Earth or surrounding orbit.
RulesWhen you enter, you’re giving us permission to use the photos in a future MAKE issue. That’s pretty much it. The winners will be contacted, so please make it easy to find you (using Flickr or Instructables works great since we can email you through those sites).

Remember you can enter at any time just by tagging your photos on Flickr with “DIYHALLOWEEN” and adding them to the DIY HALLOWEEN photo pool, or by emailing them to us (make.magazine@gmail.com), or by putting them on Instructables in the MAKE/DIYHALLOWEEN group with a tag “DIYHALLOWEEN.” To enter the Treat-or-Treat contest, just post about DIY HALLOWEEN or the contest on your blog. And lastly, if you want to use MAKE and/or CRAFT logos in your projects or posts, get ’em here (MAKE logos — CRAFT logos).
SuggestionsTake good photos, because if you win, your project may appear in a future issue of MAKE! Try to shoot high-res, at least 4 megapixel. (Our photo editor likes at least 300dpi @ 4"x5" or larger.)
Also: It’s a great idea to do a how-to; if you show you made something, you’re more likely to win. You don’t need to, but — it’s a good way to win :)
SO! What are you waiting for? Scare us! Inspire us! Humor us!
*Extra Credit: Halloween eventsKnow of a great Halloween-related event that MAKE should cover? Tell us about it ASAP at editor@makezine.com, and we'll consider sending a photographer to the event!
And if you attend a great Halloween event this year, please take your camera and send us your good-quality photos, 300dpi @ 4"x5" or larger.
Posted by Phillip Torrone Sep 23, 2007 05:00 PM

Los Dios De Los Muertos

Visit 4Season Holiday Shopping Store to buy High-Quality Halloween Costumes, Disguises, Get-ups, and Wardrobes for the up-coming 2007 Halloween Night Trick-O-Treat events!

Los Dias de los Muertos, the Days of the Dead, is a traditional Mexico holiday honoring the dead. It is celebrated every year at the same time as Halloween and the Christian holy days of All Saints Day and All Souls Day (November 1st and 2nd). Los Dias de los Muertos is not a sad time, but instead a time of remembering and rejoicing.

The townspeople dress up as ghouls, ghosts, mummies and skeletons and parade through the town carrying an open coffin. The "corpse" within smiles as it is carried through the narrow streets of town. The local vendors toss oranges inside as the procession makes its way past their markets. Lucky "corpses" can also catch flowers, fruits, and candies.
ofrenda or altar In the homes families arrange ofrenda's or "altars" with flowers, bread, fruit and candy. Pictures of the deceased family members are added. In the late afternoon special all night burning candles are lit - it is time to remember the departed - the old ones, their parents and grandparents.
The next day the families travel to the cemetery. They arrive with hoes, picks and shovels. They also carry flowers, candles, blankets, and picnic baskets. They have come to clean the graves of their loved ones. The grave sites are weeded and the dirt raked smooth. The Crypts are scrubbed and swept. Colorful flowers, bread, fruit and candles are placed on the graves. Some bring guitars and radios to listen to. The families will spend the entire night in the cemeteries.
Skeletons and skulls are found everywhere. Chocolate skulls, marzipan coffins, and white chocolate skeletons. Special loaves of bread are baked, called pan de muertos, and decorated with "bones.

Handmade skeleton figurines, called calacas, are especially popular. Calacas usually show an active and joyful afterlife. Figures of musicians, generals on horseback, even skeletal brides, in their white bridal gowns marching down the aisles with their boney grooms.The celebration of Los Dias de los Muertos, like the customs of Halloween, evolved with the influences of the Celtics, the Romans, and the Christian holy days of All Saints Day and All Souls Day. But with added influences from the Aztec people of Mexico.
The Aztecs believed in an afterlife where the spirits of their dead would return as hummingbirds and butterflies. Even images carved in the ancient Aztec monuments show this belief - the linking the spirits of the dead and the Monarch butterfly.