Carving Pumpkins: A Halloween Tradition

Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays. I realize it can be controversial among Christians, yet I love it for what it is on the surface without getting into the root. To me, it's a closing to our beautiful Maine fall and as a kid it's the one night a year you can be anything you want to be... and get candy. All that aside, my other favorite part of it was always carving a pumpkin in to a magical looking jack o' lantern.

My dad always did this with us (probably because he was just as excited to make one himself!). He taught us how to hollow them, scooping out the guts while letting us thoroughly enjoy squeezing the slime between our fingers. Then he taughts us to draw our face or other picture and carefully cut them out. When you are only 5 or 6 you typically mess up somewhere, one year my pumpkin face was held together with a couple toothpicks.

Now, its my turn! My older son has carved pumpkins a couple times but for the younger two, this is their first year. And, I hope this becomes a fond memory they pass on someday. I decided to do this project with them on a rainy afternoon after we went to the dentist. It was a good motivator for good behavior 😉