Day 196: Chili Time

House smells so good tonight.... Brian and Harrison have been chopping and simmering and cooking for hours to prepare the famous Simon Chili for our Halloween Chili Cook-Off Contest! Lots of yummy meat and peppers ... mmmm good! So far we have 5 Chili entries for the Contest, so it should be fun to sample them all !

As I have written about before, Fall is my favorite time of the year ... the house is all decorated very festive for Halloween ... neighbors have been walking by for weeks saying, "we were waiting for you to put your Halloween decorations up!"

Just when you think no one cares, or notices! All the little kids in the hood have been having so much fun watching our electric spiders move back and forth, and the strop lights flashing on the ghosts & goblins draping from our roof. It sure is fun to watch their sweet faces light up!

So tonight we've been preparing for the big bash tomorrow... we even tested the Black Vodka out! Yummy to that too!

So who said Halloween is only for trick-or-treaters? The adults can have some fun too, and we intend too!

Day 178: Trick or Treat

It's that time of year again! Halloween is weeks away... finally got our Evite invitation out today for the Simon Annual Halloween Party! Hosting a Chili Cook-Off this year... should be fun!

The Simon boys have been cooking Chili for many years... Brian started the tradition and has passed the recipe on to Harrison. It's so yummy with all their secret spices and ingredients. MMM-Good!

Will start the decorating this week... that's always a major undertaking as over the years we've accumulated countless decorations. The house always looks festive and the neighborhood children come to see all the lights and ghosts & goblins. It's so cute to see their trick or treating faces. Of course my boys are too old and too cool to dress up anymore. But that doesn't prevent us adults from dressing up and acting like the kids!

It's a silly Holiday, but when the boys were young it was so fun to dress them up and take them from house to house for candy. Really a silly tradition, but one with wonderful memories for me. Now it's the adults who try to outdo themselves with the costumes, that's so fun too!

My Mom always hosted Halloween, decorated like crazy and always made yummy chili. I guess that contributes to why the Halloween and all that surrounds it, means osmuch to me. We've carried on the tradition. I hope my boys will make Halloween a treat for their children. I mean who will I pass all these crazy decorations on to... they better host an annual party!

We had thought about skipping on our annual party this year... but I just couldn't stand having my house be empty on such a lively night. All the disappointed children who would come by and say, "hey the Halloween lady didn't decorate her house this year!"

So let the craziness begin as we kick-off Fall and prepare for Halloween ... what's your costume this year?