The jack-o-lantern that almost wasn't

The past couple of years, David and I have felt a little bah humbug-ish about carving pumpkins. (It makes a mess, it takes lots of time, we end up carving 3 pumpkins each because the kids can't do it on their own, etc.) But this year we decided to jump back into the carving tradition. We figured the kids were old enough to do most of the work on their own, and would have fun. It ended up being just a tad more difficult than we expected.



First, we waited a little too long to pick up pumpkins. I went to Walmart on Monday, and they had 6, count them, 6 pumpkins. 5 of them were bashed in. I bought the whole one. By the time I left, the other 5 had been purchased. Not to worry, our stake has a Pumpkin Patch to raise money for the Perpetual Education Fund. I drove by on my way home from Walmart and there were lots of pumpkins left. I wanted to let my kids pick theirs out, so I took them over on Tuesday. There were lots of pumpkins, but they were all mushy and rotten. I was starting to get worried. I had seen pumpkins earlier in the week at Smith's, so we went there in hopes that there would be a few left. It was a relief to see they still had piles and piles of pumpkins. When I got to the register, I realized the reason they had so many left was because they were EXPENSIVE!!!! Oh, well. As Dave Ramsey would say, I paid my tuition to Idiot School, and learned my lesson to buy pumpkins early next year.

Smith's didn't have any carving kits, so I had David pick up one on his way home. Only one, because I was sure we had several pumpkin knives at home. I was wrong. So we started our pumpkin carving adventure with 1 carving knife, 1 scooper, 3 little pokers, and 4 solid gold pumpkins. I promptly mangled the knife trying to cut the top off of the first pumpkin. That was when we decided to carve pumpkins the old fashioned way, the way we did it as kids, with spoons and steak knives. I did manage to unbend the pumpkin knife, which we used very gently for the intricate details.



The kids did have a lot of fun, and they were able to do most of the work themselves. I had to help Taliah scoop out the guts, because she refused to touch the "slimy stuff". I also helped Kallai cut out his nose, because he was worried he would amputate it. But, all in all, it turned out to be a fun family experience, and the kids were proud of their finished works of art. I decided to look at the problems optimistically. It sure makes a funny blog, and the kids will never forget carving pumpkins this year. Next year it will be even better!