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A Lesson On Halloween

Halloween never has been my favorite holiday. As a kid, growing up on the farm, trick-or-treating meant getting in and out of the car (often on very cold nights) and wearing coats over our costumes. I certainly liked the candy, but it never made much sense to me. As a father, I must admit I have warmed to the holiday, but I still have a problem with all the focus on witches and ghouls and such. A holiday that focuses on scary things still bothers me just a little bit. Iíve been pleased that my children have typically chosen more wholesome images to emulate through their costumes. This year was different though. Iíve actually been looking forward to Halloween since the middle of June. I planned. I prepared. I thought and strategized about it. But, it didnít go quite the way I expected.  The Garage Sale Our community has a neighborhood garage sale each June. By planning everyoneís sale on the same day more people attend and the event is more successful for everyone. For several years my
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Halloween Family Fun

Halloween is a delightful family holiday filled with activities for all ages. It’s a time to embrace creativity, enjoy festive outings, and indulge in sweet treats. As October rolls in, cities burst with an array of Halloween festivities, offering something for everyone. Let’s explore some of the best ways to celebrate this spooky season with your family. Trick-or-Treat A quintessential Halloween tradition, trick-or-treating is a favorite among children. For those who might be wary of letting their kids roam the neighborhood alone, why not join the fun? Dress up in a costume yourself and accompany your little ghouls and goblins. Not only is it a great way to supervise, but it also allows you to enjoy the community spirit and perhaps snag some candy for yourself! Deck the Yard Transform your home into a haunted haven by decorating your yard and entranceway. Whether you stay home to hand out candy or just want to make your house the spookiest on the block, decorating is a fun and creativ
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Halloween Crafts

The key to a successful Halloween craft project is simplicity and fun. Long, complicated crafts can quickly lose the attention of kids, leading to frustration rather than joy. With that in mind, here are some easy and delightful Halloween craft ideas that are quick to make, enjoyable, and result in spooktacular decorations. Antenna Characters Why not extend your Halloween spirit to your car with adorable antenna characters? These charming decorations are easy to create and add a playful touch to your vehicle. Start by selecting flat fun foam in Halloween-themed colors like orange, black, white, and green. Draw light outlines of classic Halloween symbols, such as pumpkins, ghosts, spiders, or Frankenstein heads, making each about 4 inches tall and 3 inches wide. Cut out these shapes and punch two holes—one near the top and one near the bottom. Decorate your characters with glitter glue or permanent markers, adding facial features and other details. Once dry, attach them to your car'
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Halloween Face Painting

Halloween is a joyous occasion for both adults and children, offering endless opportunities for creativity and fun. While carving pumpkins is a beloved tradition, face painting adds an extra layer of festive flair. Whether you're looking to scare trick-or-treaters or simply enjoy the artistry, Halloween face painting can be a thrilling activity. Below are some creative ideas for face painting that will help you stand out this Halloween. Pumpkin A classic Halloween symbol, the pumpkin can be a simple yet striking design. For a cheek pumpkin, paint a bright orange circle on each side of your cheeks. Use black for the eyes, nose, and mouth, giving your pumpkins a classic jack-o'-lantern expression. Add light grey lines for the outline and ridges to give the design depth. For a more immersive effect, transform your entire face into a pumpkin. Start with an orange base and use a darker shade of orange to contour your cheekbones. Create black triangles over your eyes, and paint your
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Halloween Cooking Ideas

Whether you are cooking for a feast of adults for Halloween or looking for some great kid approved recipes there are plenty of resources online for some excellent spooky recipes for All Hallows Eve. There are some basic rules that will help the meal preparation and presentation go a little more smoothly if you'll follow them. Hopefully that advice below will help you get through your spook fest and enjoy a great dinner too. Most people who have a huge Halloween party will find that they will be interrupted throughout the evening with trick or treaters seeking the perfect treat. While we want to enjoy the ghosts, goblins, kings, and princesses gracing our stoop we also do not want to burn the food we are working hard to prepare. For this reason we need to select foods that require little attention during the preparation process rather than foods that are quite time consuming and attention demanding.  Crock pots are a blessing to have around on a night like Halloween. You can begin t
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Can Mandatory Community Service Work?

Lots of organizations coordinate youth community service work.  And you would be hard-pressed to find anyone who would oppose the idea of kids pitching in and helping make the community a better place for everybody to live.  It suits the community because we are using the youth's boundless energy and physical stamina for a good cause.  It is ideal for the causes that have been helped because the work has no end.  It is perfect for kids because it allows them to think about other people, gives them a strong sense of self-esteem, helps them learn new skills, and will enable them to meet others in the community they might never meet otherwise. But when those in leadership at the local, state, or national level propose some form of uniform mandatory community service for youth, it seems to change the nature of the program so dramatically that the discussion turns sour pretty fast. It might be that the term ìmandatory community service has a negative connotation because, so often, that
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A Rich Retirement

Whether it is you who is approaching those golden years we call retirement or one of your loved ones is in those years, no question making that transition from the working world and decades of responsibility and hard work is not always easy.  The sudden change of lifestyle and the feeling of no longer being helpful is one of the most challenging aspects of retirement and growing older.  When you combine that with reduced activity and the natural decline in physical ability that aging brings, you have a powerful emotional transition. That is why people who actively counsel the elderly have learned that the most positive thing a person can do to combat the depression and sense of ìuselessnessî' that plague retirees is to make themselves useful. And there is no better place for them to do that than in community service. There are a variety of reasons why volunteering among the elderly is a great idea. If you are in a position to counsel an aging family member or friend, it is importan
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