Traditions


Those that " know" me on Going Gently will understand that I do like to maintain my traditions .
After all it one one of the best songs from Fiddler on the Roof!!!

Fresh Flowers in the cottage at all times
Proper trifle with cream and custard at Christmas
Pancakes on pancake day,
Sending Christmas decorations through the post.😢
Gawd we even flew a Union Jack from the windows on the Queen's Jubilee
Halloween is a fairly new tradition for me but for the past decade I have always carved a pumpkin which would sit happily on the kitchen wall of the lane.
I've been busy today, what with more vet visits,  and night shift tonight, but I've bought my pumpkin and will carve it tomorrow as I'm watching The Walking Dead  on catch up
You've just gotta keep the traditions going
Don't ya!


57 comments:

  1. In the last couple of villages we have lived in, a pumpkin with a light in it on Halloween, indicates that you are open to trick or treat. We have our sweets ready, not many children here. But in the last village, the children all came together in their school years from the local primary school, this meant it was over quite quickly and as there were no pavements there, that all the children were safe as adults with hi viz jackets lined the road and they put out cones to make it one lane of traffic. Then the people who lived out further into the sticks they did something called Trunk or Treat, where they drove their car to the village school decorated the boot of the car and gave out sweets there. Then everyone had hot drinks and a bit of a bop to some music in the village hall. Community spirit at its best. Trunk or treat was a new tradition. I really quite liked that. Some one had seen it on a blog, it is popular in America. I think it is a fabulous idea.

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    1. I love your story. I have one from Japan where most of my family lives.
      When my Granddaughter was old enough to Trick Or Treat
      in Japan the Dads in her group of friends went to one Dad's house and then set up stations up and down the quiet street,
      I think it was about 8/10 kids. What was so sweet was several of the neighborhood adults came out and started handing out treats. Son said it was just the best day.

      cheers, parsnip and badger

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    2. Hey Parsnip. I think some older people here dont like trick or treat as it is frowned on as begging? it is more of a thing now.

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    3. I think it was more fun when I was young but if you keep it for the young ones it is adorable. Love the school helped out. In America too many older kids ruin the fun.

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    4. The school was only very small and 8-10 children in each school year. But as it was a farming area they made a big fuss of bringing them all together for it. it was quite nice.

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  2. I can't wait to see what face you give Mr Pumpkin this year .... especially if you are watching The Walking Dead immediately before carving it :-)

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  3. My daughter always carves the pumpkins she is so good at it , one of our traditions is bangers jacket potatoe and baked beans on November the fifth x

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  4. I longed to celebrate Halloween when I was small but we just didn't do it. Now I have my traditions. I light candles, honour my ancestors and read the tarot. It's my favourite holiday. Please John, will you have a ghost story or strange tales post this year?

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  5. Proper trifle? With cream and custard? I love you! x

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  6. I eat my meals at the table.

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    1. I always do that, even by myself.

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  7. Very fitting to carve it while watching The Walking Dead, scooping out its pumpkin guts.

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  8. Routines and tradition tend to hold the pieces together until the mending is done

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  9. I'm too mean to carve Pumpkins; I eat mine.

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  10. I do everything on your list, bar sending Christmas decorations in the post, which is actually a lovely idea!

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  11. As we're roughly the same age, did you, like me, carve swedes (the vegetable, not the people, obviously) at Hallowe'en?
    Pumpkins were virtually unheard of where we lived and would have been too expensive anyway. The house reeked of roast swede for days afterwards! X

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    1. Yes! I remember doing this....they were so hard to cut out, especially as I was only allowed a very blunt kitchen knife!

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    2. We carved swedes/turnips. I loved the smell of burnt turnip. Everyone thinks I'm mad when I say we used turnips, pumpkins are American!

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  12. I saw a cute bulldog pumpkin pattern on google images.....
    just say'n!

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  13. MaggieB2:18 pm

    Wasn’t the Christmas decoration tradition something you did with Sorrel?. (Am I remembering her name correctly?). Couldn’t you send her one this year anyway?

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  14. I used to carve a pumpkin every year without fail but stopped about a decade ago. I missed the first two episodes of WD as the husband was watching the baseball playoffs. the home team fizzled. so caught up last night since they showed all three. I do wish they wouldn't mumble so much.

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  15. Pumpkin carving is on my list this week too. Scary face this year.

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  16. Barbara Anne2:35 pm

    DH is our pumpkin carving expert. He says having a pumpkin as your artistic medium keeps you humble - it soon rots!

    As we're from the South in the US, we always have black-eyed peas on New Year's Day. It's for good luck in the new year. Oh, and cornbread dressing on Thanksgiving.

    Hope tonight's shift is an easy, calm one.

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  17. I think Halloween is about the only tradition we still indulge in! It's probably because of all the bite size candy. I do love the children wearing costumes, so every year I pull out my Plague Doctor mask just to fit in! xoxo

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  18. A former colleague of mine carved ugly faces into windfall apples. Then he left them on the windowsill to dry up... They looked like wizened old men... I'm not a great lover of Halloween.

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  19. As it happens to be my birthday John I have always loved Hallowe'en and have always had a carved pumpkin.
    Both of my husbands did the honours with the carving, now my son does it for me. I shall stand my pumpkin on the front step as I always do.

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  20. I love pumpkins. They amaze me how they grow to such a size (never been able to grow them myself). Every year I can't resist buying one from the Supermarket - for the chickens. Husband cuts it in half and every year they totally ignore it. Still love buying a pumpkin but the poor thing ends up in the compost bin - what a waste after taking all that time growning - shame!!

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  21. Carving pumpkins is fun!

    Save the seeds to grow your own and use most of them to make pepitas!

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  22. Some you have to edit for one instead of two and some you can go hog wild because it is for one and no one else can say anything about it .. it is weird how quickly a person can adjust to being One instead of Two. There is still the grief but it gets blunted pretty quickly .. I hope this is true for you. C

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  23. I love the school children calling in we light lanterns to line our path.

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  24. My grandkids carve the pumpkin now and I always have one. I had over a hundred kids last year so I have stocked up on the mini chocolate bars.

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  25. I love the excuse Halloween gives me to reinact some childhood memories. No children in our new neighborhood, believe it or not, and still living among towers of unpacked boxes...so I will probably have to live vicariously through your jack o'lantern. Please do a good one. Thanks.

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  26. I grew up in a time when Halloween was hardly recognised at all. We were waiting for Mischief Night and Bonfire Night so why waste precious energy? I despise the "trick or treat" thing which has nothing to do with old British traditions.

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    1. Me too. Halloween was not a part of my childhood or even of my children’s. Many years ago we had a crowd of teenagers at the door saying trick or treat.....not dressed up at all...... no pumpkins at our door,!, one of them was showing that he had a knife....another neighbour came up our drive behind them as they had pulled up shrubs at his place and they went off. We phoned police and the next morning a dad appeared at our door with his son to make him apologise. Our grandchildren are all over it and love it. I still don’t like it,,

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  27. I love pumpkins and always have a few inside and out . I think it is because when I was little we could never afford to buy them. I do hope Winnie and William are better.

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  28. I love traditions. Halloween is big in the states and before I retired we even wore costumes at the office where I worked on Halloween. It was fun to see the many original costumes.

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  29. Halloween is a big thing in Northern Ireland, while Guy Fawkes Night isn't marked at all. We always have to remember to buy plenty of chocolate bars for Trick or Treaters.

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  30. I always buy a pumpkin at Halloween and make soup, probably the only time of the year I do. Like you say it is a tradition xx

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  31. Traditions grounds and stabilise me. I haven't joined the halloween scene though.
    Looking forward to seeing your carved pumpkin.

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  32. That is one of the well-proportioned, attractive large pumpkins I’ve seen — a shame to deface it with carving. So many people into growing large pumpkins get carried away, then end up with misshapen strange forms and even coloring that I’ve seen. A city in the state I was growing up claimed the largest in the world, over 1000 lbs.

    We had Beggars Night, then the Halloween story was that all those who hadn’t given you something would receive a trick the next night. The latter wasn’t followed by our family, or most others. Worst I did one time was throw a handful of shelled corn on someone’s porch.

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  33. I adore traditions and intend to get a pumpkin this year to carve up. I didn't have a proper Halloween or Christmas last year, so I am making up for it this year. Have fun and show us your carved pumpkin.

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  34. I agree. The children might think you have gone mad, but fuck 'em.

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  35. Hallowe'en is big here. Prior to Hallowe'en, people use pumpkins just to decorate and create a nice Fall ambiance, often with mums, cornstalks, maybe a scarecrow or bale of straw... When the kids were young, each would decide how to carve their pumpkins and we would rinse the seeds of their pulp, put them on a cookie sheet with butter and salt and roast them in the oven. We used to get more trick-or-treaters than we do now. Many of them get driven to a larger town instead of staying in our little village. -Jenn

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  36. Halloween is really big in the states, and it seems like each year it gets bigger and bigger. Traditions are great. They bring continuity.

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  37. Got the candy and the pumpkins ready! I hang onto the traditions too!

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  38. Have fun with the eyebrows!

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  39. Anonymous3:47 am

    We got married on Halloween. In costume. 23 years coming up. We both love Halloween and always look forward to the trick or treaters. This year my husband is cutting out (2) sitting cat profiles that I will be painting black. They will be sitting sentinels on either side of our sidewalk near our front steps. We don't get carried away anymore, but like to do something unexpected. The cat cutouts are being cut on my husbands digital router and will be a fair bit larger than a regular cat size. We also have (2) live, black female cats, one of which looks a bit like Albert. We adopt black cats, as they are often the ones left behind in the shelters. Happy Halloween!! Ranee (MN) USA

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    1. Anonymous3:50 am

      And of course, there will be pumpkins and gourds arranged on the steps and I love carving pumpkins, but the arthritis has taken a toll. I used to use wood carving tools to carve my pumpkin and always looked forward to seeing how eerie it was when it got lit up. Miss my Jack O Lanterns.

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  40. I love pumpkin carving. They’re not big enough here for my liking , but I thought I was leaving Halloween behind when I moved here. Unfortunately it’s catching on.

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  41. Halloween isn't a thing here, or at least for this middle aged lady. Still, I like a roast dinner at Christmas even if it is mid summer for us, candles lit in the evening and I like to see the New Year in even if home alone and in bed 10 minutes later.

    Julie

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  42. Yes to traditions. Yes to joy.

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  43. Yes . . .
    Keep the traditions going . . .
    It heightens the memory bank too!

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  44. I thought you put a sign up in your window last year telling trick or treaters to "go away"??!! Enjoy your traditions - fresh flowers in the cottage at all times is a lovely tradition to have.

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    1. That was a meme that John lifted from Facebook :-)

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  45. Yes the bring comfort. I have a lot of them many 'seasonal' to help me appreciate the specialness of the time.

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  46. I see your point, John. I also like evolving traditions as well.......keeping them up-to-date and relevant to the present.

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