The Great Pumpkin

Sincere Sacrifice left by the Children: 16+ pounds of candy.

Susie and her Cinderella Doll

Rebekah is confused by a picture she sees of her and a little kitten.

Jonathan loves the rock tumbler. Hannah is checking out a portable CD player.

Ahh. Rebekah found her.

History of the tradition: When Hannah was almost two and a half years old, she developed a large stomach and her arms and legs began to look more and more spindly. One morning, Hannah had had several stooly diapers before leaving her bedroom. We went to breakfast where she ate perhaps two bites and claimed she was too full to eat anymore. I took her upstairs and discovered she had lost a fifth of her body weight in only a matter of days. When my father came, her pediatrician, he put her on a special diet (only fats and protein--no sugar of any kind) and told me he believed she had sugar fermenting in her bowels. This was, of course, a week before Halloween. It was this year that our family began offering up their candy as a sacrifice to the Great Pumpkin in exchange for a toy. Our children are allowed to keep all toys, trinkets, and Halloween things received and a snadwich size baggie to treats that I put up in the cupboard and get out for them one at a time.