The Importance of Halloween

In a day and age where people seem to spend more time indoors, I find myself loving Halloween even more than I already do. Granted, I have a fondness for the holiday. I am reminded of spending time with my father and siblings crafting homemade costumes...a t.v., a carrot, the Headless Horseman to name a few. To this day, I still love the ritual of picking out a pumpkin, designing a face and carving it while pumpkin seeds roast in the oven and hot cider steeps on the stove.

Halloween is the holiday that gets people outside from a trip to a pumpkin patch whether it be an urban lot strung with lights or Lombardi Ranch in Santa Clarita to the anticipated evening when kids venture out in the darkness bedecked in costumes to knock on neighbor's doors in search of candy.

I love how Halloween is linked to a harvest, a time to celebrate the changing seasons.

Over the weekend, we took in two pumpkin patches with grandparents, Lombardi Ranch and Underwood Family Farms. My oldest son sleepily asked after a very full day where we closed out Underwood Farms, "Mom, can we carve our pumpkins soon?" Definitely, I'm ready for some roasted pumpkin seeds.