It's almost All Hallows Eve. this is a great night in our neighborhood as all the kids go around trick or treating and this year as my kids are a little older now I decided to go all out and decorate the front of the house.

I have tombstones, skulls, spiders webs all around the garden, I have a skeleton hanging from the roof with a green strobe light on it-you name it-I got it. My wife says that I am doing this for me and not the kids and she is obviously right-as always. Now I have a week to go nuts and see what more stuff I can come up with, I am thinking about buying some bats...

Halloweens origins date back to a Celtic festival called Samhain (pronounced Sah-ween or Sow-in). The Celts celebrated the beginning of the New Year on November 1st. On the last evening of the year, October 31, they believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to the earth. These ghosts roamed the world, causing damage to crops and performing other mischief, as they searched for living bodies to possess.

Not surprisingly, the living were not keen to have their bodies inhabited by these ghosts, so on that night, they would dress in scary costumes, and parade the town, hoping to frighten the spirits away, and make it to the morning unscathed.

After the Celtics lands were taken by the Romans, Samhain was absorbed with two Roman holidays. Feralia was a day in October to commemorate the passing of the dead.

Pomona was a day to celebrate the goddess of fruit and trees. (The symbol of Pomona was an apple, which may explain the adoption of the Halloween tradition of bobbing for apples.)

All Saints and All Souls

In the 7th century, in an attempt to replace substitute Samhain with a Christian holy day, the Catholic Church named November 1 as All Saint's Day, a day to honor saints and martyrs. The church tried again in the 9th century, making November 2 All Souls Day, a day when the living prayed for the souls of the dead. Neither attempt was very successful.

Trick-or-treating is said to have developed from the All Souls Day custom of people going village to village begging for "soul cakes" bread made with currants. The more cakes they received, the more prayers they would offer on behalf of the givers dead relatives who were in purgatory. However, some sources say that this tradition had all but disappeared long before the North American tradition of trick-or-treating began.

So, if you want to make some fun and easy things for your Halloween party, then look no further.

DEVILLED EYEBALLS

Makes 12

Ingredients:

6 large hard boiled Eggs

3 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon honey mustard

½ teaspoon vinegar

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

¼ teaspoon paprika

Sliced black olives (optional)

Method

Put eggs in a pan and add water enough to cover eggs completely.

Add a teaspoon of salt to the water. This will prevent the whites from running if a shell breaks during cooking.

Bring water to a boil, and cook eggs at a medium boil for about 12 minutes.

Chill eggs in Ice water.

Remove shells from eggs.

Cut each egg in half lengthwise.

Carefully remove the yolks, and place them in a medium bowl.

Mash yolks with a fork.

Add remaining ingredients, blending until rather smooth.

Very carefully spoon mixture back into the egg whites.

Now to make these into DEVILLED EYEBALLS follow the following steps Step 1: Follow the recipe for devilled eggs

Step 2: If desired, add a drop of blue food coloring (or a dollop of guacamole), to give the eyeballs a greenish appearance.

Step 3: Slice some green or black olives crosswise.

Step 4: Place an olive slice in the middle of each egg.

Step 5: Give the eyeballs a bloodshot look by dripping beet juice onto the white of each egg, starting from the center and moving outward toward the edge.

YUMMY CRUMMY MUMMY DOGS

Heat oven to 375°F.

Unroll dough from a tube of Pillsbury crescent rolls onto a foil baking surface.

Separate the dough at the perforations, creating rectangles. Press perforations to seal.

With a knife, cut each rectangle lengthwise into 10 pieces, making a total of 40 pieces of dough.

Cut each cheese slice into 4 pieces.

Wrap 4 pieces of dough and one piece of cheese around each hot dog to look like bandages.

Near one end of each hot dog, separate "bandages" so hot dog shows through for a "face."

Place wrapped hot dogs (cheese side down) on baking surface.

Spray dough lightly with cooking spray.

Bake for about 15 minutes, or until dough is light golden brown and hot dogs are hot.

Create features on the face using ketchup, mustard or cloves for the eyes, and ketchup, mustard or a horizontal knife slit for the mouth.

AND FINALLY… 10 Things That Sound Dirty On Halloween, But Aren't...

1. So...What'd you get in the sack?

2. Once you get under the sheet, start moaning and groaning!!!

3. Just hop on that broomstick and ride it!

4. Those small suckers are gone in a few licks!

5. I got the best piece from that house.

6. Quit screwing around on the porch!!!

7. Stick your hand in and guess what you're feeling....

8. It was so filled and heavy; I had to use TWO hands!!

9. They'll suck you dry if they get their teeth in you.

10. I bobbed and bobbed, but couldn't get my mouth around it!

Originally publised in 2011.