Preparing for Halloween

It is in a week time. Getting impatient already? I am. Even though it will be on a Monday and I cannot celebrate it nearly as much as I want to on a Monday. I will however carve the pumpkin into a Jack O'Lantern this weekend. The one on the right I carved in 2009. I was quite proud of the result. I don't know how Jack will look like this year: devilish, vampiric, or maybe ghostly, like Jack should feel after so many years of roaming the Earth?

I will do the usual this week: reading horror stories, or Halloween-related stories (this book, for instance), watch horror movies, put more decorations if I can find any, eat sweet things and of course, blog about Halloween. I have many topics I want to cover: gluttony and the primitive origins of trick or treating, my own take on the tale of Jack O'Lantern, some more about Halloween of my childhood (I do believe there is still some details left to cover) and beer (you'll see). Often for such celebrations, preparing for it is more interesting than the day itself, especially at an age when I don't trick or treat anymore and in a place where Halloween is only a minor holiday.