Haiku of the Week

The theme this month is Halloween Memories, however, with the Autumn equinox only days away, I wrote a haiku in tribute to Fall.

white picket fences
leaves blowing in the wind
Autumn’s splendor

Monthly Haiku Corner – September

Five days into September and it certaintly doesn’t feel like Fall’s right around the corner. Heatwave aside, the official Halloween season has begun. Now is the time when human creativity and inspiration is at its highest. Our memories are crucial to this process. We steer far away from bad memories, but good memories will drive every inch of our being to replicate and it’s here that we find our inner child flourishing and building the foundation that the soul rests upon. Our theme this month is Halloween Memories. Halloween season is a time for making new memories, as much as it is about revisiting the joy of old ones. Have a magical season, everyone!

fallen leaves
trunk full of memories
October dreams

Happy September!

Welcome back ‘Ber months!
It’s the official start to the Halloween season. This month’s theme is Halloween Memories.

The holiday season is all about perserving traditions and making memories. Halloween and falltime is the most joyous time of year. There’s less stress and a focus on personal fulfillment, as opposed to Thanksgiving and Christmas where catering to the needs of family and friends takes priority. During Halloweentime, you are doing fun things to elevate your own mood, decorating and putting your own creative spin on things, and finding a spooky costume to entertain your inner child, and ward off evil spirits, of course! That doesn’t mean we are selfish beings or ignore family and friends. Far from it! We include them in our celebrations! We inspire them to tap into their own creavity and find happiness within by making great memories of their own. When it’s all said and done, no one remembers the cool stuff they bought or didn’t buy because they couldn’t afford it. It’s memories of going places, seeing things, meeting good people, and feeling the joy, inspiration, and love that Halloween lovers bring into our lives. Don’t underestimate how much the tiniest act can last a lifetime in our brains and drive us to experience that kind of joy again and again. Be kind and patient with one another. Do your part to protect the earth from climate change. Recycle, reuse, and conserve water and energy.

To all the creatives, the artists, bloggers, decorators, filmmakers, retailers, writers, my fellow members in the Samhain Society, and everyone in-between, I bid you a spooktacular season. You keep those fires burning all year long and finally get to see payoff during this season.

So, make good memories, everyone. Have a great fall and Happy Halloween!

Haiku of the Week

Our theme this month is A Vampire’s Fall.

night prey
insatiable hunger
crimson frenzy

Haiku of the Week

Our theme this month is A Vampire’s Fall

autumn leaves
a victim’s distraction
vampire mischief

Haiku of the Week

winding trail
ready for a new season
autumn leaves

Monthly Haiku Corner – September

red leaves
dance among the maples
september squirrels

Recipe of the Month – November: Cranberry Crisp

Since November’s Friday falls on the day after Thanksgiving, I’m breaking my own rule and posting a recipe this week.

Let’s be honest, next to green bean casserole, cranberry sauce is the least desirable dish on the holiday table. I suspect that’s because it’s so plain. Well, I found a recipe that might spruce up the trimmings, thanks to the good people over at Gimme Some Oven and their recipe for Cranberry Crisp.

CranberryCrisp3 GimmeSomeOven — Photo **©GimmeSomeOven**

INGREDIENTS

CRANBERRY FILLING INGREDIENTS:

24 ounces (about 6 cups) fresh cranberries
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup freshly-squeezed orange juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
zest of one orange

CRISPY OATMEAL TOPPING INGREDIENTS:

1 cup old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup chopped nuts (pecans, walnuts, almonds, pistachios…you pick!)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup melted butter or coconut oil
1/4 cup flour (or almond meal)
pinch of salt and ground cinnamon

©GimmeSomeOven

For the full recipe and baking instructions, please go here: https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/cranberry-crisp/

Now, instead of a boring side dish, you can serve a sweet and healthy dessert. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream to really make it pop!

Tips for Handling Post-Halloween Depression

Well, it’s happened. Another Halloween season has come and gone, and it’ll be 11 long months until our favorite holiday comes back around. Post-Halloween Depression is real. There never seems to be enough time to do all the things we want to do during the month of October. While it’s easy to fall into the trappings of woulda, shoulda, coulda, guilt never brought back Halloween any sooner. If you have a serious issues, get help. Young folks, talk to someone. For reals. Maybe you suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder. This is the loneliest time of the year and it doesn’t have to be.

If you think you got a handle on it and you’re just looking for ways to squeeze the spookiness outta the holidays. Here’s a few helpful tips:

Find Your Tribe

Life is simply too short not to hang with people who don’t engage your interest, inspire your creativity or support your vision, even if it’s just turning your front yard into a cemetery every October.

Halloween groups on Pinterest, Reddit and Facebook are great places to find likeminded fans. Commiserating with others helps us not feel so alone, and trust me, you are not the only one who cannot bear to watch Freeform’s sugary programming on repeat for the next two months.

Shop ’til You Drop

Don’t put away that credit card just yet because shopping for Halloween items is even better after Halloween. This is the time when stores are blowing out their stocks and have slashed prices from 50-80% off. Spirit stores, Michaels, Joanns and World Market, just to name a few, all have big sales still going on. Never underestimate the power of retail therapy.

Scare up Your Next Halloween

There’s no time to cry when you’re a notebook deep full of ideas for next Halloween, and next year is gonna be a doozy. Halloween 2020 will be on a Saturday, there’ll be a full moon and that’s also the day we set our clocks back. Sounds auspicious already!

Let Autumn Linger

I don’t understand why people insist on rushing into Christmas when we have the beauty and wonder of the harvest to celebrate. Pumpkins, scarecrows, fall leaves, much of what we love about Autumn is what we love about Halloween, and nothing is better than natural spookiness of fall.

You can always decorate with autumn lights and harvest candles. Hang a fall wreath on the front door or somewhere over the mantle. Instead of the Christmas tree, put up an autumn tree during the month of November. Check out this fantastic autumn home decor from All for Fall & Halloween member Megan Sanders:

Photo courtesy of Megan Sanders/ ©Megan Sanders

Give Thanks to Dark and Moody

Maybe you’re one that needs to feed your gothic soul all twelve months outta the year. Well, Wednesday, keep your striped socks on, because it’s quite easy to flip the holidays to satisfy our love for all things dark and brooding, as seen here in this incredibly beautiful dark holiday photography:

©gempicker.com

For more photos like these, check out our Dark and Moody Holidays board on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/halloweenkristy/dark-and-moody-holidays/

Celebrate Bad Santa

Of all the bad Santa origin stories in the world, Germany’s Krampus is the clear winner. The half-goat, half-demon, schnapps loving, children whipping, horned god of the witches is the most recognizable of all holiday bad boys and has been depicted in numerous way, but the consistency has always been his long twisted horns, a long tail, snake-like tongue, razor-sharp claws, and black hooves for feet. Additionally, he often wears a long heavy coat, wrapped in heavy chains, with some type of big bell attached.

Krampus ©Brom

Krampus is bad cop to Santa’s good cop. He carries a bundle of birch branches for whipping naughty children and stuffs the really, really bad ones into a basket or sack that he takes home to torture, drown and eat.

How this devil ended up as Santa’s evil sidekick is a mystery but he’s the only one celebrated internationally, even has his own designated night, Krampusnacht on December 5^th

Embrace the Spooky Side of the Holidays

Krampus is more proof that Halloween and Christmas go together like peanut butter and jelly. Artists, creators, and movie makers have been genre-bending and making the holidays scary for decades.

From twisted Santa histories to spooky holiday tales, there are plenty of the dark or supernatural elements to admire or revere during the holiday season.

So, dry your tears and get to planning, cuz the holiday scares are just beginning. Put some fangs on your snowman or hang some bloody reindeer antler bones on your front door and your relatives just might behave on Thanksgiving day.