Katie Pumpkinhead’s Pumpkin Patch

Here’s a story I haven’t thought about in a long time, but it came flooding back to me today after a random comment on Instagram asking about one of my decorations. I’ve mentioned before that my Aunt Trish was always the one to take me trick-or-treating as a kid. We had a regular route we’d follow, and, being the Halloween fanatics we were, decorations we got used to seeing every year and looked forward to seeing again. No memory is so prominent, though, as the lamppost that would transform every year into the backdrop of a magical scene. We noticed it that very first year, when I was four years old. A lamppost at the edge of the walkway leading up to a house that was pushed a little farther back than the others. The lightbulb was covered with a sphere shaped fixture, and, when Halloween time would come around, suddenly the silhouette of a witch on her broom would appear, creating the magical illusion of a witch flying across the moon. For many years that lamppost rema...

If you’re in need of some levity during these crazy times in this world, let me share with you one of my favorite incidents from when I was a pumpkinseed, revolving around the spooky subject of mummies. One summer afternoon when I was very, very young, my older cousin was visiting and she was watching the classic 80s/90s kids’ TV show, Reading Rainbow. That particular episode centered around a book called Mummies Made In Egypt , and went into some detail about how mummies were made and things like that, as much as could be done on something made for children. The episode is actually on  YouTube  if you care to watch it. Whatever age I was at the time, somewhere between two and four, I obviously knew nothing about ancient Egypt. I had no idea what a “mummy” was. Yet somehow I knew the story being told was nonfiction. These were actual events that happened, and my tiny pumpkinseed brain was terrified! I felt claustrophobic just thinking about it. And I didn’t unders...

You may have noticed that I end most of my posts with the phrase, “Stay spooky, my friends”. I have no real idea where I got that from. I said it once in an Instagram post and I liked the way it sounded, so I stuck with it. I’m probably not the first to say it, and probably won’t be the last. We all want to sound like the Halloween version of The Most Interesting Man in the World sometimes, right?  But the more I’ve thought about it, the more I realize just how important those words are, to me and to others like myself. We are facing an uncertain time in the world right now. Trust me, I know how easy it is to get sucked up into all the panic. I deal with many anxiety issues on a daily basis. I work in a grocery store, which is basically ground zero in these times. I have a significant amount of loved ones that are at a higher risk for the virus. To say I haven’t been worried would be a lie. It’s easy to shut out the things that make us happy when we’re afraid. It’s...

Do you believe in the Great Pumpkin? It probably comes as no surprise that I do. Let me take you back too my Pumpkinseed days for a moment. My Aunt Trish, my mother’s younger sister whom I loved and idolized from the cradle, was the person who got me into Halloween. It was her favorite holiday, but she didn’t have children of her own to take trick-or-treating, so when I was old enough, she couldn’t wait to take me. It was our tradition from the time I was four until I turned eighteen, and even after that, we still went out for Halloween walks for several years. We’ll get into more of that another time, but for now I’d like to talk about another Halloween tradition that she started for me: Belief in the Great Pumpkin! I can’t remember exactly what age I was, five or six, I believe, when Aunt Trish and I were having a conversation on the phone shortly before Halloween. Being a little girl, I somehow got onto the subject of a new Barbie doll I really wanted, and Aunt Tris...