There is just something about October that makes me feel alive! The first cold winds in the evenings, the festive jack-o-lanterns on all the neighbors porch steps, or maybe its because my birthday AND my husband’s also fall in this magical month? Whatever it is, I welcome the change of the leaves and the start of the holiday season with open arms!
Yesterday, I dug the Halloween decorations out of the garage and got to work. Before long, the house was adorned with pumpkins, black cats, friendly witches, and purple faerie lights. I am Irish on my mother’s side, and I have long appreciated the origins of our American Halloween celebration, which is rooted in Celtic tradition. In Ireland the festival is called Samhain (pronounced Sow-In), and it marks the end of the harvest season and the start of the new year. The Irish are a superstitious people (they helped settle the Ozarks and lent that superstition to this region) and during Samhain they would burn bonfires, dress in costume to evade the spirits roaming the earth, and carve faces into turnips to scare the ghosts away! As a Christian I take Halloween lightly, you won’t see me at your local seance, but I do love re-living my childhood fun by trick or treating with my son!
Football games on Friday nights, hot drinks on dark mornings, and pulling your favorite sweater out of the cedar chest. October is quite possibly the coziest month of them all. We also host an annual Halloween party for family at our home. We have four October birthday’s to celebrate and one big party is the most fun way to do it! This year we are going to start the tradition of a murder mystery game at the party, and we chose Murder Mystery at the Manor for this year.
I plan to make all kinds of treats and I always have some hamburger cheese dip in the crockpot. And for the game I will have bowls of Halloween snack mix set about the table.
Halloween Snack Mix:
INGREDIENTS
- 8 oz white chocolate baking bars, coarsely chopped
- 4 cups Corn Chex or Rice Chex cereal
- 2 cups bite-size pretzel twists
- 1/2 cup raisins
- 1 cup candy corn
- 1/4 cup Betty Crocker™ orange and black candy decors
PREPARATION
- In large microwavable bowl, microwave chopped baking bars uncovered on High 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds, until melted and smooth.
- Gently stir in cereal, pretzels and raisins until evenly coated. Stir in candy corn and decors.
- Spread on waxed paper or foil until cooled and chocolate is set. Break into chunks. Store loosely covered.
We have a lot of fun planned for the month and I hope you do to! Thanks for stopping by, please feel free to leave your favorite Halloween traditions in the comments!