A Belated Halloween

When it comes to holidays I am essentially a creature of habit. I like to do the same things I did when I was a kid. This is especially true with Halloween. My rituals include buying a pumpkin to carve, roasting pumpkin seeds, and watching It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown on TV. The only thing that has changed drastically is that  instead of dressing up in a costume I usually just dress up my dog William instead.

I was planning a cool Halloween outfit of orange and black to wear to celebrate the holiday, but since I was sick I was home all day in sweatpants trying to get my voice back after suffering from laryngitis. Actually, this worked out rather well as I enjoyed all of the Halloween pageantry of daytime TV. This included watching a spooky The Price is Right with Drew Carey as "Drewcula" and the cast of The Chew parading around as The Spice Girls.

Below you will find some of the highlights of the holiday which I thoroughly enjoyed even though I was sick.

The above is one of the lawn decorations of our neighbors. I spied it when we were walking William yesterday and it reminded me so much of my new favorite show American Horror: Coven. To be honest I can't stand the opening credits of the show with all of the weird witches and creatures dancing around, but I am addicted to the "supreme" drama of it all!

This was the end result of my pumpkin carving endeavor. I tried to experiment with a face that I found on Martha Stewart's website and the end result looks a little strange.

William was both a frog and the devil for Halloween thanks to the cheap costumes at Petco. This year it was very difficult to get William to stand still for an extended period of time due to the fact that he was tracking something in our backyard. In the one picture he admittedly looks a bit insane and possessed which I guess is fitting given the circumstances. The last shot is clearly an action shot but I just thought it looked kind of cool, almost like a painting, which is why I am including it.

Last of all are my pumpkin seeds. If you carved a pumpkin I highly recommend making use of the seeds and turning them into a tasty snack. My recipe is very simple. First, combine the seeds of one pumpkin with two tablespoons of butter. Then add salt, paprika and a little garlic powder to taste. Heat in an oven at 300 degrees for 45 minutes until golden brown and eat while hot.

Hope you all had a great Halloween! What are your "rituals" to celebrate this ghoulish holiday?