Pumpkin Carvin'

Every year before Halloween my dad asks if I've gotten a pumpkin to carve yet.  If not, he will get one for me.  It needs to be just the right size, with one side perfectly ready to be cut into.  Nowadays I need to get one for me and Riley, and this year we found some awesome ones.  And last night we commenced to carvin'.

The fillet knives and newspaper were brought out to the kitchen table, as well as Sharpies for marking faces and such.  Grandma pulled out all her October magazines that featured ideas for carving, but none of them seemed quite right.  The Hanson family likes to do things on our own when it comes to being creative.

I chose to make a statement this year, rather than cutting the traditional triangle shaped eyes and crooked tooth-filled mouth.  Riley frittered away on paper with ideas until he came up with the perfect compliment to what I was doing.  And after completely freehanding the design onto his pumpkin,

we were ready to take out the guts and get to work.

My pumpkin says "BOO!",

and Riley's is a scaredy cat. 

He spent much time on the details, knicking in little whiskers atop it's ears, trying to make it look like his own cat, Lewi.  I tried not to have a heart attack as he wielded Grandpa's extra sharp knife, having his hand way too close to the blade for my liking. 

But there was no blood, and no trip to the emergency room.  Whew.  Grandpa guided him on how to wiggle the knife through the tough flesh, make the corners, and be careful when he got to the points where he could completely destroy his design if he wasn't extra careful. 

Next year I'm going to find us one of those cool carving kits that all the professionals use.  For a family project that we enjoy doing every year it will be worth every penny.  And it will allow us to get even more carried away with our ideas.

Since we don't get any trick-or-treaters at our house, we will head back over to Grandma and Grandpa's tonight for a cozy dinner of chili and cornbread with honey, followed by a round of Rummy and way too many Kit Kats and M&M's, I imagine.  I suggested staying home in our dark house and watching the "Poltergeist" trilogy, but I couldn't quite convince Riley that it was a good idea.  Scaredy cat.