Katie Pumpkinhead’s Pumpkin Patch

 It’s that time of year again…The time when I feel the need to defend the fact that for some inexplicable reason, my second-favorite holiday has always been Valentine’s Day. I don’t remember how or why my obsession with Valentine’s Day started, I just remember that every year, as February approached, the pink-and-red wave that suddenly washed over the world completely enchanted me. The excitement I felt when the Cupid silhouettes appeared in windows and the heart-shaped candy boxes took over store displays was unmatched by any other non-Halloween holiday, and I’ve often debated why. Perhaps it had to do with that long stretch of nothingness after Christmas time. Valentine’s Day, though much smaller in scale, was at least something to celebrate and get excited about. Maybe it was the fact that I was guaranteed attention from classmates on that day, via the punny little cards that we were required to hand out to everyone, meaning it was the one day of the year when I, by “law”, could...

 Let’s talk, for a moment, about cabbages. No, I haven’t suddenly decided to start dedicating this blog to St. Patrick’s Day, despite my Irish heritage. It turns out that cabbages were once a very big part of Halloween tradition and lore. Have you ever wondered about the tradition of pranking on the night before Halloween? I know I’ve had many moments in life when I’ve wondered why, on the night before Halloween, it’s so customary to throw eggs at windows or decorate trees with toilet paper. (Or, if you grew up where I did, partake in actual property damage, in some cases.) I reached a point in my youth where I felt like it was some kind of rite of passage, especially considering how much I loved Halloween and wanted to partake in every tradition relating to it, but I always wondered where it came from.  As it turns out, one of the earliest traditions relating to pre-Halloween pranks is actually rooted in romance...and cabbage. I recently added this vintage postcard, from arou...