A Halloween Moment

It is the last day of BlogFest 2012, and what a journey it has been!!  Today’s host is Angela Tjong from Journey of Life.  Today she challenged me to describe one moment in my life.

     The kids arrived home from school.  Besides homework, there was only one other thing on the agenda.  With Halloween the next day, the time had finally arrived to carve the pumpkins.  We searched the internet for free carving patterns and the kids decided which design they wanted.   After much deliberation both kids picked free designs from the Pumpkin Masters website, and I printed out the patterns.  I had saved all the pumpkin carving tools from previous years, and my daughter and I were on a mission to find them.  They had been washed and stored in a drawer since last year.  Sure enough, that is where we found them scattered between two different drawers.  The only thing I didn’t find was the tool that is used to poke holes in the pumpkin and transfer the pattern.  Being the resourceful type I grabbed a knitting needle, and we were ready to get the party started.

        I took great pleasure in using my largest butcher knife to attack the pumpkin and make a lid.  Then it was up to the kids to dig out the pumpkin guts and sort out the seeds for later.  I began the tradition of saving the pumpkin seeds and baking them for an after trick or treat snack.   Carefully and painstakingly my daughter and I took turns poking holes to transfer the patterns we had chosen and printed out.  When all the slimy guts had been disposed of and every last seed had been placed in a paper towel strainer to dry, I preceded to tackle the tedious job of carving.  While I had first assumed the designs they had chosen looked fairly easy, I soon discovered they were a lot harder than they first appeared, tedious, and time consuming.  I was tired and hungry and ready to be done with the entire project, but I persevered.  For the first time ever, I dreaded carving the second pumpkin after the first was finished and thanked sunny Je$us I hadn‘t had more than 2 kids.

          My son soon abandoned the project to watch TV.  Only my daughter stayed and started supper per my instructions.  By the time the last pumpkin was ready for the front porch, supper was well on the way to being done.  Thank G0d for that sweet girl of mine!  My son chose a “grim reaper” pattern, and my daughter chose “Icabod’s Fate”.  For the life of me I couldn’t see the grim reaper when I looked at my son’s pumpkin.  It depressed the hell out of me.  After the pumpkins were carved and the battery operated tea lights were placed inside, we donned winter coats and gloves and ventured out into the night to see how I did.  It wasn’t until I was standing in the cold night air in a freezing drizzle that the grim reaper appeared to me.  Then I was amazed and felt redeemed in my skills as a pumpkin carver!  I had done well after all!  The glowing tea lights brought the pumpkins to life.

           I have carved pumpkins for my children since their very first Halloween.  It didn’t matter that the first Halloween’s found them lying in a bouncy seat on the kitchen table, they were still there and accounted for.  Over the years they have participated more and more in this yearly ritual.  Although I was tired and hungry last night, I persevered because this moment would be one we would all store away among the most precious memories of the journey through our lives.  The laughter and chatter would fade, but the memories would remain.  It would be one we would each take out, dust off, and remember each future Halloween as we carved even more pumpkins.  After all, it’s tradition until next time when I give you another glimpse into the life of a trucker’s wife.