Sweet crisp beautiful October. How I love thee. I mean, I love all the BER months. But October is the month for Halloween, and right after is Thanksgiving and Christmas! It’s just a fun time of year. I love seeing all the houses lit up for the holidays, and it starts with Halloween.

We just returned from visiting Salem, MA, last week, and it was amazing! It definitely kicked off the Halloween season for us. If you have never been there, it should be on your list of places to visit. Now listen, you don’t have to be into Halloween to enjoy the city. However, if you do love Halloween, you will enjoy it even more. It’s like a Disney world for Halloween lovers because you never know who you will see dressed up in costume. That’s why it’s called Halloweentown. The character costumes up and down Essex Street were so incredible. I mean, these people go all out. We met a witch named Borah who told me to have a miserable day. Kenzy got her picture taken with Jack Skellington, who stood about 7 feet tall. There was Frankenstein, a real black cat hanging out in a window, Michael Myers, a creepy nun, and another creepy figure on stilts with red high heels and a scary face. I couldn’t even tell you what it was, but it sure was eerie. Huge clowns running around with rubber hammers, Uncle Fester with a light bulb in his mouth, IT clown, Bigfoot, and even Mr. Grinch were there! I could go on and on. You just never knew what or who you would see.

Tourists were even dressed up. Many walked around in witches’ hats that were sold in practically every store because of the Salem Witch Trials back in 1692-1693. The cemetery and memorial were amazing to see. The town is so full of history, cool old houses built in the 1600s, and so many things that just make you go, “whoa”. You don’t need to love Halloween. While sightseeing, I noticed that you could see a family of Waldo’s (we yelled, “Found you!” haha) or Jesus walking around. I thought it was so neat to see him in Salem on Friday and thought, “Wow, what a testimony for people!” I gave this guy so much credit and thought it was really cool. But the next day, we saw the same Jesus again, and Jesus had a beer in his hand and was smoking a cigarette. *enter head smack here* I just sighed and thought it was too good to be true, but people were handing out flyers with John 3:16. People are being testimonies right in Salem which I thought was neat. Jesus just needs to lay off the beer and cigarettes! Gee whiz.

There’s a little town called Winter Island, which is much cooler than anywhere else. We could immediately feel the temperature difference on the open trolley. Then there is the sweet little house in Salem that a man saved his money to build back in 1755. After he built it, the rich people built a mansion right on top of his house. He couldn’t see anything to the left of his home because the mansion was just an inch away, but he didn’t have any money to fight it. It was so sad to see. We also saw a beach called Waikiki Beach. No, it wasn’t in Hawaii. Now, this was the first Waikiki Beach in America, but Hawaii disputed the claim with the state of Massachusetts, arguing that they had the first Waikiki Beach. What Hawaii didn’t realize is that Hawaii was not part of the United States until 1959. I guess they opened their mouths and inserted their feet.

This is just some of the history in the city of Salem. We also got to see many of the houses/buildings featured in the movie Hocus Pocus and visited Marblehead, MA, which has numerous filming locations from Hubie Halloween on Netflix. (Great movie, check it out for a fun Halloween movie this month with Adam Sandler. One of our family favorites!)

It’s so much fun to travel to a place you’ve never been before and discover new places. I’m thankful for the time we had in Salem with friends and that Kenzy got to experience it. She never once complained that she was bored. There was so much to do and see! Couldn’t think of a better way to kick off the Halloween season.

Veggie and Cheese Monster Wreath

This was so fun to make for Kenzy’s Nightmare Before Christmas birthday party back in January.

You’ll need:
• Broccoli, cleaned and cut into chunks
• Cherry tomatoes
• Yellow pepper, cut in half for eyes
• Black olive, cut in half for eyeballs
• Provolone cheese (or any harder cheese) sliced into triangles to look like teeth

Directions:

Place the broccoli on a large plate. (Black if possible)

Make it look like a Christmas wreath, then add the cherry tomatoes as the ornaments.

Finally, add the yellow pepper for the eyes, topped with a half of a black olive for the pupil.

Place cheese in the center of the wreath for the teeth and serve with a veggie dip or hummus.