The Great Pumpkin - A Halloween Tradition

Ever since 1966, when It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown first debuted on prime time television, I've been a faithful fan. I've watched, loved, and enjoyed that story for forty-eight years, since I was in the sixth grade.

Credit: Paramount Pictures & Charles M. Schultz

It was a simpler time, and smack-dab-in-the-middle of my childhood. I'm instantly swept back to that time, and the sweetness of life. I've felt sweet pity for Charlie Brown forty-eight times. I've anticipated that people would drop rocks in his trick-or-treat bag again every year. How can he stand it? I wait with childlike angst, while Linus writes a letter to The Great Pumpkin, and then sits in the patch waiting for it to rise up. I dread the impending doom and disappointment. Same story. Same familiarity. Same delight in the cuteness and wisdom of Charles Schulz and the animators.

Same sense of home. That is what even these little traditions evoke. A memory of a happy time at home, for I was blessed enough to have a loving family and stable home life that included these fun nights of TV specials. And that family taught me my first lessons in community and shared experiences.

I still make plans to watch it every year during the week prior to Halloween. Since I own the DVD version, I can watch it when it is convenient. I often bake sugar cookies, decorating them with orange icing to eat one or two during the show. It is part of fall fun for me.

This year I made dark chocolate haystacks instead. Then I placed those little candy pumpkins in my cluster of chocolate haystacks that are hardening to be eaten. Fun and honoring good memories are my only goals for this event. And a tasty treat is my reward, while watching It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, yet one more time.

Why do I never tire of watching this old cartoon? Who knows! The childlike spirit and imagination in me live on, and for that I am grateful. Grateful for parents who nurtured that in me. Grateful for the strength to let it live on in my adult heart. And grateful for the sea salt sprinkled on those dark chocolate haystacks with peanuts, waiting to be enjoyed during the cartoon. Too bad the sea salt doesn't glitter in the photo.

Enjoy your fall traditions, everyone! Create some new ones. Just because it is fun. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to slip away and watch it all again.

California Convert - It Happened

I may have morphed into a Southern Californian after all, while I wasn't looking. After living here for over twenty-four years now, it was bound to happen. Here are the symptoms and causes.

• Humidity hits 10% and I complain about how humid it is. 
• I'm freezing when the temperature plummets to 65 degrees. 
• I know to expect a cement ditch (channel) when I hear about the San Gabriel River in our area, not scenic water flowing through the woods. 
• I can "go to the snow." 
• I've been in a few "sigalerts."
• I've rocked and rolled in a few earthquakes.
• I've seen a celebrity or two.
• I refer to highways by number: the 405, the 605, the 101. Oh, and the 60, the 10, and the 210, for starters.
• I'm aware of the abundance of nail shops and taco stands everywhere.
• I sold my raincoat and gave away almost all my sweaters.
• And the other day it happened. To my chagrin, I realized I actually sped up at a yellow traffic light, instead of slowing down as I was taught in the Midwest. Sigh.

But I do keep on renewing my subscription to Midwest Living magazine. I still love the heartland.

After all, it is the people you meet and learn to love that make the place home.

"God bless us, everyone." - Tiny Tim

The Big Church Vote

Today, at 12:15, my local church will have a special business meeting to vote on the candidate for senior pastor. This is a big deal day, a historic moment. The former senior pastor served for over seventeen years, so at our place this day doesn't come very often. I am excited to watch this all transpire and to participate in the vote. Then we will wait for the votes to be counted and gather again at 5:00pm to hear the outcome.

All sorts of thoughts and images run through my mind. The white smoke so significant to church leadership for my Catholic friends...

Credit: http://galleryhip.com/white-smoke-pope.html

And a more light-hearted moment from the entertainment world, the Final Rose Ceremony...final candidate, will you accept this rose?

Credit: http://www.chiangraibulletin.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/the-bachelor.jpg

This is a big deal to me, to be a part of selecting the next top leader where I'm involved in a community church. "Under the influence" can have a negative connotation, but in this case our congregation will be "under the influence" of this next senior pastor for many years. So this is a serious and exciting day. The culmination of many, many months of the search.

So much work has gone into selecting a final candidate. I will not go into that here. The way a church like ours gets from the point of realizing a search for senior pastor will begin to the congregational vote to approved the selected candidate. Take it from me, it is tricky, intense, informative, and takes many people over many hours. I am the spouse of one of the Search Team Committee members. By way of simply sharing our evenings, I overheard many sample sermons from other applicants, so I have some insight into the diligence of this committee.

Today is the day. The members of our congregation will vote. If a strong percentage votes yes, a new day and a big celebration and a whole lot of relief will launch for many of us. Today, in my faith group, we wait and watch for a tangible work of the Holy Spirit in working in and guiding us all to vote accordingly. That sounds a little mysterious. Unity in a diverse group often is.