Living Water : All Hallows Eve and All Saints Day

It's been over a month since my last post, so there are probably not too many folks out there still reading my blog. C'est la vie. We've been running ourselves ragged, and blogging is definitely an extra and a luxury that necessarily got put on the back burner. Since I'm probably down to a few devoted followers, here's a much belated post for you concerning All Saints Day, a Roman Catholic feast Day on November 1st. I'm sure you won't mind.

My husband was out of town for work (surprise!) for All Hallows Eve (Halloween) and All Saints Day this year. And I couldn't pull off attending the All Saint's Day costume party that involved Mass, candy, games, and a pitch-in Dinner with the local Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate. Below are some pictures of a few of my kids' costumes from previous years (in no particular order.)

My oldest as St. John Vianney and my second oldest as St. Gianna Beretta Molla

In this picture, my oldest boy is St. Don Bosco, my oldest girl is St. Elizabeth of Hungary, and my youngest girl is St Michael the Archangel (although her wings and sword aren't really visible in this pic.

My oldest girl as St Kateri Tekakwitha

My oldest boy as St. Martin of Tours

This is my oldest daughter again, but at a much younger age... 3 maybe? In this picture she is St Katherine Drexel, of whom she was very fond at the time. She's holding an arrow head in her right hand.

My pumpkin from last year

I managed to pull off some pumpkin carving with 4 kids this year though. (That's no small feat, I assure you, especially with a giant, pregnant belly impeding pumpkin scraping!) We don't do jack-o-lanterns, but rather, for lack of a better term, saint-o-lanterns. We've kept the theme loosely religious and just followed our kids' lead. Here are some saint-o-lanterns from previous years.

a pumpkin my sister carved when visiting

my oldest's take on symbolism for the sacrament
of Baptism (a few years ago)

marian symbol and the sacred and
immaculate hearts (oldest)

my oldest's again

a church and a monstrance

wheat, the Sacred heart

My husband was on a business trip for All Hallows Eve and All Saints Day last year too. So I didn't get out to purchase pumpkins in time. Instead we improvised and made luminaria out of paper grocery sacks. I had the little kids use stencils so that they could trace on a folded, flat bag. Then they cut out their images with safety scissors. It was actually a lot more kid friendly than pumpkins in some ways. And we even used some hole punchers and scalloped scissors. They had lots of potential! Here's what they looked like.

my youngest daughter's

my oldest daughter's (Eucharistic)

mine

my oldest son's (tabernacle)

My oldest son's

This year we pulled off pumpkins AND a themed dinner.

First the pumpkins...

My dove with an olive branch and my youngest son's

my youngest daughter's musical notes for St. Cecilia
and my oldest daughter's rosary.

We use the serrated, specially made for carving pumpkins, cut-proof little tools and scrapers that are sold seasonally. (My son is holding one in the picture below.) For the rosary beads, my daughter used an apple corer. In the past we've also used cork screws, potato peelers, and other kitchen utensils. Peeling off the skin or scraping parts of the pumpkin very thin can produce nice results.

If you want to make saint-o-lanterns, be creative. Think about ease of use and safety. And if you are doing this with a large family or lots of little kids, I suggest that you consider cutting lids and scraping out the insides of the pumpkins the night before without any kids about. (Or better yet, if you're lucky enough, assign a teenager this task!) This will streamline the process and will make the carving more fun and frustration free for impatient, small children.

Here are some more tips. When cleaning the pumpkins, start by spreading brown paper bags or garbage bags on the table top. Dried pumpkin is like cement, and it dries quickly in a heated house. You can wad up the paper sacks when you are finished and throw everything in the compost pile. Or you can wad up the garbage bags and dump them into the wastebasket. (I don't recommend newspapers, as the printing rubs off and makes a mess, not to mention that you don't want to compost all that icky ink.) You'll also want some large bowls for piling the seeds, stringy pumpkin slime, and pumpkin chunks in.

When you cut those lids, cut at an angle so that the lid does not fall in as the pumpkin dries and shrinks. Also, remember to leave a little vent hole to let the heat and smoke out if you are using candles.

When you scrape out pumpkin innards, be sure to wear short sleeves and aprons. Large spoons like ice cream scoops (especially the simple plastic kind) work great. Try to avoid metals that may bend, like aluminum, or your serving spoons may end up warped. The specialized pumpkin carving tools often come with scrapers (like the one my son is holding in this picture) that work well too.

To draw your patterns on the pumpkins you can use water-based markers, like those designed for overhead projectors. (Yes, I am dating myself with that comment!) When you want to change something you can simply wipe it with a damp paper towel. And if your cuts stray from your intended line, you can wipe the line off, and no one will know. In fact, a roll of paper towels on the table is a good idea for messy hands too!

To illuminate your creations, I suggest tea light votives in the metal cups for pumpkins, and battery operated votives if you opt to make luminaria.

Now for the FOOD! At the last minute this year, I made a run to the local grocery store and bought some unusual (for us) mostly prepared food items to make a themed "meal". It was really a lot of snacks and finger foods rather than a meal, which my kids loved. And the food items could definitely be better, given more forethought and a larger grocery store! Here's what I threw together...

St Bernadette's firewood
(pretzel sticks)

St. Pio's' stigmata
(sandwiches made with whole wheat bread cut into a
foot shape with a cookie cutter and pierced with a
straw to make the nail mark- the filling is peanut
butter topped with raspberry jam.)