Archive for October 19, 2009

Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Pumpkins: Crafts, recipes and more!

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Pumpkins are NOT just for Halloween - they’re good ALL SEASON LONG! In fact, I think pumpkins have more to do with the autumn harvest - even though they’re used for both the jack-0-lanterns and the common shape for the trick or treat bags. But Pumpkins are a common fall harvest vegetable, good for Halloween, Thanksgiving and all throught the fall. They’re good for baking, decorating, and yes - for jack-o-lanterns, too.

For many years, I’ve bought and painted pumpkins - it’s easier than carving, the pumpkin lasts longer, and it disassociated with the Halloween jack-o-lantern. Any kind of acrylic paint will work, and you can paint any kind of happy or silly face that you want. Top it with a wig or yarn hair, a hat, whatever you want. Have a blast with it.

Several years ago, I decided that I wanted to actually carve one, harvest the seeds, harvest the flesh and make a pie and roast the seeds. So we did. Now, let me tell you - if you just want fresh pumpkin there is an easier way to do it. But I remembered carving a pumpkin once as a kid and I wanted to do it. So we did. We carved a castle on the front. We saved and roasted the seeds. We scraped and scraped and scraped and cooked and froze the pumpkin to use the next month at Thanksgiving. The kids really enjoyed it. And it got me thinking.

The next year, we carved pumpkins again. This time, I carved the girls’ faces, a pumpkin for each. I carved their names also. As we placed a candle inside, we talked about how the pumpkins represented each of them, and we read the passage in Matthew about not hiding your light but letting it shine before men. I’m pretty sure I also threw in the passage from Philippians about shining as lights in a crooked and depraved generation and the admonition to shine so brightly by doing things without grumbling and complaining. ; ) We prayed together and declared that these pumpkins would serve as our reminder to shine brightly for God, for as long as the jack-o-lanterns lasted, and beyond.

We did this two years in a row before I found the book, The Pumpkin Patch Parable. I LOVED IT. It took what I was doing just a little bit farther, but it fit in so well with what I had in mind. The story line and the illustrations are simple and sweet and it’s a story that any kid would enjoy. I’ll admit that we don’t own this book - yet. When I found this book, I didn’t have the money for it. But I read it, I held it in my hands, I looked it over…. it’s a GOOD book. I’m hoping to pick it up for this year, even though I’m not sure we’ll have a chance to carve any pumpkins, as the kids will be with my mom until the night before Halloween.

Pumpkins are for more than carving, too, as I’ve already mentioned. I like to decorate with pumpkins as well. You can use an assortment of pumpkins outside, on your tabletop, a mantle… wherever. You can paint them, use a pumpkin as a head and make a pumpkin man/scarecrow. You can fill a bowl with mini pumpkins. Mini pumpkins and GOURDS. I adore mini pumpkins and gourds. With some wheat. Or hay. And berries. You get the idea.

You can use real pumpkins, or fake pumpkins. I have an assortment of fake gourds mixed with real gourds and mini pumpkins on my piano - you can’t really tell the difference, but I get to reuse some of them year after year without replacing them. Truthfully, if I had been able to find decent looking faux gourds at the time, I wouldn’t have bought the fresh ones, but I want my money to be spent on items that are worth it - even if it is only a dollar. So I’ll look again next year.

And of course we all know pumpkins are great for baking! There’s the most famous pumpkin dish of all - THE PIE. I love me some pumpkin pie. Why is it that we feel the need to reserve pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving? Have it in October I say! Or if not, there are always pumpkin cheesecakes, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin breads and pumpkin soups. YES, I said pumpkin soups! My favorites would be the pies and the cookies - YUM!

And the pumpkin crafts are endless! I adore these tea light candles made with mini pumpkins! A quick search of the internet will give you tons of craft ideas. How about these pumpkin funny faces, any one of these fun pumpkin crafts, or this “Bear-y” cute Pooh Bear lookalike craft complete with honey pot! (or any of the other 14 craft ideas - Bear pumpkin pictured above.)

GET CREATIVE. Pumpkins are part and parcel of the fall season, through Halloween and into Thanksgiving. Don’t be afraid to use pumpkins around your house for fear that someone will mistake them for Halloween decorations. Add some corn stalks or even a hay bale and add a sign - “Fabulous Fall!” Pumpkins are yummy, and pumpkins are beautiful and pumpkins are good!

Do you have a favorite pumpkin recipe, craft or decoration? Tell me about it!

This post is a part of the Hallow-What? Halloween Special. Hop over and join in!

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Filed under: autumn, easter, halloween, spring | , , , , , , |4 Comments

Hallow-What? : A Halloween Special

Halloween: What’s a Christian to do?

Halloween. A holiday rooted in ancient pagan (meaning non-Christian) traditions, transformed by modern society into a garish and brightly colored parade of children in search of a good take. Every major tradition and symbol (the jack-o-lantern, the phrase “trick-or-treat”) represents the hoiday’s origins. Commercialism has taken that and run with it, of course. By late September, consumers can find Halloween costumes, treat bags, decorations and other paraphernalia lining the store shelves, serving as a constant reminder that Halloween is coming and we need to be ready for it. While many Christians know exactly where they stand (either on one side, avoiding and boycotting the holiday completely, or on the other side, participating in safe alternatives at churches and around the community) many others steel feel confused and pulled between the two options.

No judging here.

I want to make it clear that Christians will find no judgement here from me, regardless of what decisions you make with your family. I believe that God leads us and convicts us each on our own paths in His own timing. While He may have convicted you of something you now feel strongly about, I may not feel convicted about it at all yet, and vice versa. I also believe that as Christians we should encourage and uplift each other and not tear each other down. I encourage each of you to stand strong in your convictions for or against, and to YES go ahead and share them, because it is often through personal testimonies that the holy spirit can begin to work on someone else’s heart. I also encourage you to avoid judging others who don’t share your convictions or even outright argue them. Instead, let’s love each other just as Christ has loved us, in spite of our imperfections and sins.

More on Halloween in the Oliver household:

I already shared what Halloween looks like in our household, about how I began participating in Halloween alternatives, but a few years ago God began pulling me away from that. For the last few years we’ve been slowly building our own “Halloween” (but mostly FALL) traditions. I have found several good ideas online and in books and thought of and prayed through many of my own. I didn’t really go into a lot of detail about specific activities and traditions, because we’re going to get into that in just a minute. First, some questions and answers:

  1. What do you do about trick-or-treaters? We live in the country and we always have, so we have never had to deal with trick or treaters. However, there are a few different ways I can see to go on this one. You could go out on a family date to avoid the masses. Dinner and a movie should be long enough to get you through it. You could participate and use the opportunity to reach out to the kids in your neighborhood – along with a piece of candy, you could give them an invite to your church’s next Sunday School or youth event, or something small such as a pencil or bookmark with a bible verse on it. (That option will probably get you “labeled” as the holy-roller on the corner, but it’s definitely an option.) On the other hand, you may not want to pass out candy so you don’t appear to condone the holiday–in which case you could leave a sign on your door politely saying that you don’t participate in Halloween. What would YOU do in this situation, are there any other suggestions?
  2. How do your kids handle not Trick-Or-Treating with their friends and neighbors? Honestly – they handle it really well. They’ve never really cared much about traditional trick-or-treating, but they did want to go to the festival to get their share of candy. Last year we started a new tradition that we’ll probably continue until the kids get older. Since the real goal was the candy, I bought four or five different kinds of candy and put them in a tub on the top of the refrigerator. The kids got to have 2 pieces a day until they were all gone. They got to get their candy, I got to pick the candy – everybody is happy.
  3. What do you do when confronted with all the Halloween costumes, decorations and other paraphernalia at the store? I take advantage of it! We may not do Halloween, but all three of my kids like to dress up and pretend. There is not better costume selection than at Halloween. Go ahead, shop those clearance aisles after Halloween is over and see what kinds of costume pieces you can find to add to the dress-up box. I also like to browse the home décor looking for items that represent fall/autumn and just skip right over the Halloween stuff.
  4. What do you do when family or friends invite you to something or give your kids something Halloween related? It depends. Most likely we will turn down invitations to parties, politely explaining that we don’t participate in Halloween events. Depending on the thing my kids are given and who it is from, I may let them keep it. If it’s candy, I’ll moderate it. But if it’s something that I wouldn’t approve of, (and I’m not able to intervene before they get their hands on it) I will most likely end up getting rid of the item and apologizing to the kids while explaining my position. If someone gave my son a devil costume, we would not be keeping it. Parenting: it’s hard. But it’s what I do.

Ideas for Activities & Crafts for Fall/Halloween:

  1. Many Christians choose to celebrate Reformation Day or All Saints Day in addition to or instead of Halloween. Both of these being separate holidays, I’ll being going into these in separate posts for each of them. However, you can find information about them right now, on my Holiday Celebrations page (just scroll down to their section.)
  2. Holiday baking - BAKING IS ALWAYS GOOD. =D The thing about fall is there are bountiful harvests everywhere! If you don’t grow your own (I don’t) take your family out to a local farmers market or you-pick-type farm. Turn zucchini into yummy zucchini bread. Convert those pumpkins into pies, breads and chocolate chip pumpkin cookies. Be adventurous and try a new squash or fruit that you’ve never tried before. Teach your children to appreciate all that God has blessed us with.
  3. Take a trip to a pumpkin farm. We have a pumpkin farm within driving distance that has mazes, playgrounds, hay rides and a huge selection of pumpkins to pick from. What a simple way to have fun together with your family! Pick out a handful of pumpkins to bake with. Go ahead, pick out some carving pumpkins too. I have so much to say about pumpkins and pumpkin carving that written a completely separate article for it - read it here!
  4. Decorate for fall. As early as the 1st of October, I begin decorating for fall. I don’t go over the top with it, we don’t have much in the way of fall decorations yet. Not only am I trying to frugally add a little each year, but I’m also extremely picky about the decorations I like. I don’t want something that looks Halloweenish, but I also don’t want something that looks cottage-crafty-country-whatever. Take your time and be discerning as you shop through the store aisles. Be wise with your money. Choose pieces that you feel reflect your style and represent the changes in the seasons, giving honor and glory to God who is sovereign over them. If you’re crafty, make your own. Most importantly, just take time to enjoy God’s creation and thank Him for it.
  5. Make fall crafts with your kids. Fall is abundant with craft supplies. Pinecones, fall leaves, evergreen sprigs… take your pick. From simple leaf rubbings to natural centerpieces - the options are numerous! Check out the links at the bottom of the post for specific craft ideas.
  6. Take the opportunity to share a family devotional. Whether you choose to have a specific Halloween-related devotional, or seize many teachable moments to share devotionals with your children while you are out and about in God’s creation or cooking up the fruits of your labors in the kitchen - keep your eyes open for moments when you can glorify God and give Him thanks for all that He has provided. Even when you’re explaining the science behind a white and tufty dandelion head or sharp and pointy pinecone, you can give glory to God in all his wisdom for creating a world that functions to rhythmically and beautifully.
  7. Read with your children. There are many wonderful stories to read with your children this time of year. Children love to be read to and it’s a great way to strengthen your bond with your children and build memories that will last forever. (Not to mention that “they” always say that children who are read to more frequently are smarter and happier!) A list of good books to read is included at the bottom of this post.

More resources:

  1. Books
  1. Websites
  1. Craft Ideas
  1. Extended Reading

Share the Love:

What favorite activities, crafts, recipes and other fall/halloween alternative traditions do you share with your family? If you have a favorite book or craft idea that you’d like to share you can leave it in the comments. If you have a blog post that you’ve written (recently or in the past) about your family’s fall and halloween time traditions, about how God led you to your current convictions, or even about just one craft or activity that you’ve done together, feel free to share it in the MckLinky below to encourage others who are looking for direction to navigate through this can-be-tricky holiday. Include a link back to this post so that readers can easily return here and so that your readers can find their way here also. Feel free to download the image above to include in your post or sidebar. And please do spread the word!

There’s also a “backstage” type event going on at the Fan page. I’ll be posting more links and pictures there, so if you’re not a fan already, come join us!

I’m going to leave the linky open as long as I can, hopefully up through Halloween night. If I start seeing links that look spammy, I’ll start deleting them. If it gets to be too much for me to keep up with (which I don’t expect) then I’ll have to close it before Halloween.

It’s about your heart:

In the end, the decisions you make are between you and God (and your spouse if you have one) and no one else. Ultimately I believe God is more concerned about the state of your heart than about whether or not you went to a Halloween party. I believe He is most pleased and glorified when your heart is seeking His will. God sees the inmost parts of our hearts and knows their every desire. Regardless of where you stand on Halloween, regardless of what He has or has not convicted you of thus far in your life - every day including Halloween is a day the Lord has made, an opportunity to honor and worship Him and give Him all the glory. In all that you do, may God be glorified!

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Halloween at Our House

I’ve never been a BIG Halloween fan, but as a kid, we often begged our mom to go somewhere or do something for Halloween. The biggest reason I wanted to go trick-or-treating was for the candy, and the only reason I wanted to attend parties was for the fun and friends. We’d often attend events put on by local churches and honestly, as long as we came home with a decent take of goodies my brother and I would be fairly satisfied. We weren’t allowed to dress up as scary things, but we usually had fun finding other things to “be” for Halloween – if we even dressed up at all.

As a new mom, I continued on with the same traditions from my childhood. I have pictures of  my daughters’ early years, dressed up in adorable costumes at our local Harvest Fest. One year my girls were Cinderella and Ariel, another it was Wendy and Tinkerbell. They didn’t really know what it was all about but there were balloons and candy and bouncy houses - what kid wouldn’t like that?

It wasn’t all at first that I began to reassess my opinions about this particular holiday. But while attending the Harvest Fest several years ago, a gnawing dissatisfaction began to eat away in my heart. I observed in my children the very same attitudes I knew I’d had as a kid. It was true that we weren’t dressing up as scary monsters, getting into mischief, doing anything unsafe or anything of that sort…We weren’t even saying “Trick or Treat” at the Safe Treat the businesses around the town square provided. No, we were better than that – we said “please” and “thank you” with a holy “God Bless You!” thrown in here and there. That made everything better, right?

You can throw glitter on a rock, but it’s still a rock. It will never be a precious gem. In my heart I knew that though there wasn’t anything horrendously WRONG with participating in the event, there wasn’t a whole lot RIGHT with it either – in that it wasn’t Christ-centered or God-exalting. In it’s intentions, it was an outreach to the community by the local churches – and that’s a very good thing. But as I looked around the festival that year, it was hard to see past the candy, the gluttony, the games and prizes, the greed, and the masses of little children running around gleefully oblivious to the attempt to provide a Halloween alternative. Looking through child’s eyes, it was a great big Halloween party. (Edited to add: I feel the need to clarify that there was nothing wrong with us PARTICIPATING in the event, and not a lot right with us PARTICIPATING in the event because our attending along with the community children and giving into the candy gluttony wasn’t God-exalting or setting a good example. The issue here was US more than the event. I’ve explained more in the comments.)

I also realized that it’s not anything that I can blame on anyone else. It’s MY responsibility to make our days and our holiday celebrations Christ-centered and God-exalting. But I knew that it’s really hard to keep a child’s attention when there’s a pile of candy waiting to be won like a pirate’s loot. Something needed to change, so for the past two years the kids and I have been working to establish our own Autumn and Halloween traditions.

For the past few years, we’ve put more effort into celebrating Autumn as a whole. God is sovereign over all seasons. He causes the trees and plants to die so that their seed may spread, hibernate over the winter and grow again in the spring. Not only is this symbolic of our lives in general (change is necessary, the “death” of some things is necessary for the life and growth of others) but this is also symbolic of the greatest sacrifice ever made. Jesus had to die (autumn), spend three days in the tomb (winter) in order to rise to life again (spring.) There are so many wonderful things to make, see, do, enjoy during this time of year. Many wonderful crafts to be made, activities to be done, places to go– devotionals ready at your fingertips.

The kids and I will bake cookies, do crafts, enjoy the great outdoors, and Halloween will come and go pretty much like another day. We’ll indulge in some candy, we’ll spend time with family. But we will not attend parties on that day, because for us, it’s not about Halloween itself. We all know that actions speak louder than words. Our actions and our words show what is in the heart. I want my actions and my words to show what I am celebrating, what I am truly worshiping. Not only on that day, but on every day. To that end, the Halloween “holiday” really has no true place there, you know?

You can read more about my “Aha! Moment” by reading what I wrote after the festival a few years ago.

This post is a part of the Hallow-What? Halloween special!

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Filed under: autumn, halloween | |5 Comments

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