October 5, 2026

Eating breakfast with a table of jack-o-lanterns is a fantastic way to start your October morning. A few minutes ago, I was chuckling alongside my table company and it got me to thinking...how on earth did we come up with the idea of making faces into pumpkins and lighting them up with tea candles? I looked it up and discovered the fable of Stingy Jack, a drunk towny who played fiscal tricks on the Devil and was mean to everyone he encountered. He was so menacing and annoying that when he died both St. Peter and the Devil barred him from their gates, sentencing him to a life of eternal wandering. Nomadically doomed, Stingy Jack was trapped in a dark void between realms with nothing but an old turnip to snack on. Begging for a way to see, the Devil threw a hot coal at him. Jack dropped the coal into the middle of his turnip and used it as a lantern to guide him around the infinite darkness. From this legend, the Irish and Scots began carving into beets, potatoes, all types of foods. Pumpkins were found to be the easiest, thus beginning the tradition of our joyous carving. and thank god! I'd hate to be eating breakfast alone!