Carving Pumpkins

It's that time of year again—the time that the Anderson family heads down to the local pumpkin patch to pick out the perfect pumpkins for our Halloween jack-o-lanterns. Our pumpkin patch makes the activity quite effortless. It's conveniently located right in front of our supermarket, quaintly nestled on the pavement between the panoramic parking lot and the brick-and-mortar storefront. It's so convenient, in fact, that the pumpkin farmers have already picked them for us and stacked them neatly in a bin with a big price-per-pound sign posted nearby. We were a little disappointed and somewhat stymied to learn that we had to actually lift our pumpkins into a shopping cart and push them all the way to the checkout stand to make the purchase. I assured my children that Daddy would see what he could do to make the whole operation somewhat easier before next year's picking party.

Later that night, we found ourselves gathered around our dining room table, knives in hand, ready to transform simple gourds into grotesque, illuminated terror. What a great tradition!

See the finished products below. Each one was named by the person who created it. Yeah, I know the name "Scary" lacks a certain "je ne sais quoi." It's Erica's fault.