Katie Pumpkinhead’s Pumpkin Patch

A brief exchange of comments with a friend on Instagram earlier today got me thinking about my childhood Halloween collections. Strangely enough, almost all of my childhood decorations and knickknacks, which, believe me, there were a lot of them, mysteriously disappeared somewhere in my late teens/early twenties. My memories of these items are vivid. They each had a story and personality, and would become part of ongoing arcs in my head that would be added to every October when it was time to put the decorations back up, I only wish I still had most of these items to share here today, but alas, I guess I’ll never know what happened to them.  I did, however, manage to rebuy the most important collection of my childhood Halloweens in adulthood. As you can probably tell, I have quite a few little families of Halloween characters, whom will all be introduced here formally in good time, but it seems only right to introduce the ones who have followed me here from my childhood first:...

This may come as a shock, but my second-favorite holiday is, and always has been, Valentine’s Day. It’s one of those things I could never really explain. As a child, I loved seeing the decorations, looking at the cute things for sale,  receiving little cards from classmates that otherwise wouldn’t give me a second thought, and, possibly above all else, trying to make sentences out of the little conversation heart candies. I’d spend countless hours at the kitchen table, trying to make a love note that said something like “Hey You. Let’s Kiss. Be Mine. Love You.” Terribly romantic stuff, I know. As I got older, it became sort of the “in thing” to hate Valentine’s Day, especially if you were single, but even at the loneliest points in my life, I could never bring myself to do such a thing. I don’t think I ever saw the holiday as being exclusively about romantic love. For me it was always about just love and happiness in general. Be it romantic love, friendship, family, a pet,...

Once upon a time, there was a girl who loved pumpkins. Not all pumpkins can last forever, though. So there came a day when one of her pumpkins started to rot. Luckily, the girl had a beloved sister. Maybe they weren’t connected by blood, but they were bonded together by mutual understanding and acceptance. Her sister carved the pumpkin into a tiny jack o’lantern for the girl and all of her spooky Halloween friends. “Where did the pumpkin go?” Little Horus the ghost asked one night. Calling upon Sam to come and investigate.  “Something ate him!” said Sam. “A raccoon, most likely. I do hope it was a nice meal.” “And now” said Sam “I have a nice hat!”