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Pumpkins of Halloween Past

by Dawn Pisturino

All Photos by Dawn Pisturino.

I have always loved Halloween.

When I was a small child, we lived in rural Indiana, and the Halloween season was always somehow perfect. After the hot, humid summer, the weather cooled down, and Halloween often brought rain. The leaves on the maple trees burned bright red, and I remember raking leaves and jumping into the piles, laughing, with my younger brother. I can still smell the pungent odor of burning leaves.

Halloween meant going to the farmer’s stand to buy fresh apples and pumpkins. It meant fresh apple cider, apple pie, hot chocolate, and donuts. My best friend always had a Halloween party down in her basement, where we dunked for apples and played games.

Then there were the tricks-or-treats!

One of my fondest memories of my brother, who died of melanoma when he was turning forty, is going trick-or-treating with my parents. When he was only about five years old, we tramped around the neighborhood in old sheets, carrying pillow cases for our treat bags. My brother dragged his on the ground until it got a hole in it and all the candy fell out. He cried like a baby, and I grumbled because I had to share my candy with him. Every time I watch the Peanuts special, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!, I think about my brother. Every time Charlie Brown complains, “I got a rock,” it makes me laugh and cry at the same time because I can still see my brother dragging that pillow case on the ground.

My husband and I still carve pumpkins every year and build a bonfire, if the weather permits. One year, I waited too long to buy pumpkins, and all I could find were blue pumpkins. But, see how pretty!

A few years ago, I spent Halloween with my daughter and her boyfriend in L.A. We had great fun watching scary movies, carving pumpkins, and eating homemade goodies.