Katie Pumpkinhead’s Pumpkin Patch

Halloween does end the most abruptly of the holidays. It’s gotten worse as time has gone on. Stranger. One night, we all are happy trick-or-treaters, making mischief in the moonlight, but then the next day, for some, it’s like it never even happened. The atmosphere starts to be taken over by what ‘should’ be everyone’s favorite holiday, according to society.  But what do they know? Those of us who choose to hold onto the Halloween spirit have probably all wondered. Where do Halloween memories come from? And, perhaps more importantly, where do they go? There is an ancient pumpkin man. Not many have seen him. In fact, if you have seen him, you may have thought he was just a headstone in a cemetery, silently watching over his deceased. And that’s not entirely wrong. He is the Gatekeeper. Guardian and spirit of every Halloween memory that exists. Like a vessel, he holds the weight of thousands of Halloweens inside him; Halloween past is still very much alive within him. He will share h...

Since last Saturday was World Doll Day, it got me thinking. If I’m “known” for anything at all around social media, it’s most likely my collection of Halloween art dolls. Photographing and sharing my dolls is a huge part of my life, and honestly, one of the biggest factors that I believe makes me, me.  Since I get a lot of questions and compliments about my collection and hobbies relating to it, I thought it would be fun to give a bit of backstory, and also share some of my favorite artists. I’ve really always been a doll person. As a child who was often alone with my imagination, I spent a lot of my time creating stories for my Barbies and other dolls. Sometimes they acted as friends, other times they acted as characters, but no doll was ever without a name and some sort of backstory. I didn’t understand girls who didn’t play with dolls. The idea was simply unthinkable to me.  My love for dolls didn’t go away when it was “supposed” to. In fact, my father would get annoyed whe...

Have you ever wondered why I refer to my room, my blog, basically the entire little universe I’ve created, as The Pumpkin Patch? Well, as you can probably imagine, I have a very long, very happy, very emotional history with pumpkins. I dressed as a pumpkin the first year I trick-or-treated. The first autumn event I remember experiencing outside of Halloween night itself was a class pumpkin picking trip in kindergarten, and painting the pumpkins afterward. The Great Pumpkin visited me for most of my childhood. And, for as long as I can remember, the Halloween decor displays I would set up in my childhood home (I was always the one in charge of the Halloween decorations; Halloween was not my parents’ thing.) were always referred to as “The Pumpkin Patch”. My childhood displays consisted of more than pumpkins, of course. I would line up every Halloween item I could find, from pumpkin pails, to tiny raffia scarecrows, to ghosts made of cheesecloth, to anthropomorphic chi...

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,...