DECK THE HOLIDAY'S

  This recipe comes from  www.tasteofhome.com  .  A really, really great looking cake for the Holidays. Halloween Layer Cake Recipe P rep: 20 min. Bake: 30 min. Yield: 12-16 Servings 20 30 50 Ingredients 1 cup  butter, softened 2 cups  sugar 4 eggs 3 cups  all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon  baking powder 1/2 teaspoon  salt 1 cup  milk 1/4 cup  baking cocoa 1/4 cup  water 1/2 teaspoon  vanilla extract 1/2 teaspoon  orange extract 1 tablespoon  grated orange peel 10 drops  yellow food coloring 6 drops  red food coloring GLAZE : 3 ounces  semisweet chocolate 1/3 cup  heavy whipping cream Candy corn for garnish Directions In a bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Combine flour, baking powder and salt; add alternately with milk to creamed mixture. Mix well. Combine cocoa, water and vanilla; stir in 2 cups cake batter. Pour into a greased and flour

   The history of  Halloween costumes  ~On November 1st over 2000 years ago, in what is now known as the United Kingdom, Ireland and northern France, the Celts celebrated their new year. This date marked the end of the harvest season and the beginning of the cold, dark winter season, often associated with death. It was Celtic belief the on the night before the New Year the veil between the land of the living and the land of the dead because blurred. This night they celebrated Samhain. Celts believed ghosts haunted the land and damaged crops. This night was also thought to allow the Druids and Priests to possess a heightened ability to predict the future. For the commoner, these predictions would be a comfort and an insight into the coming dark winter that lie ahead.    Druids built large bonfires where the people would gather to sacrifice crops and their animals to ancient deities.    The Druids also wore costumes consisting of animal skins and animal heads to mark the ce

Making a Witch Broom In the spirit of Halloween I thought I'd repost this! In the woods behind our home we have a clump of twining vines that grow and twist and slither round the trees. The vines are Asian Bittersweet which is a pest plant, not native to our area. It's very invasive and smothers the host plant it grows on. The vines mangle and mutate the branches and trunks as they grow and while it might not be good for the woods, it's a great place to find strange and creepy sticks. This is what inspired us to make the Witch's Broom. We started by finding a good gnarly branch that had spiraled as it grew. Then we collected lots and lots of little vines. We hauled it all back to the house to make our broom. We took the twisted stick and cut it at a good handle's length. Then we started wiring the small vines onto the handle a bunch at a time. When all the vines w