Have you carved pumpkins yet? It always seems like we would carve them too early and by Halloween the faces would cave in and they would be pretty funny looking. I can never seem to get the timing right. I always get so excited and want to do everything NOW!! I love roasting the pumpkin seeds and having those around for Hailey to snack on. But really, how many pumpkin seeds does one family need?
I love Halloween but don’t necessarily love the mess that comes with carving pumpkins. When I was married my ex husband was in charge of cleaning the mess while I roasted the pumpkin seeds, it worked out perfectly. Then I got divorced. Not only will Hailey not clean up the mess, she won’t even clean out her own pumpkin. She has an aversion to pumpkin guts.
Every year Hailey and I would go to the pumpkin patch and pick out perfect pumpkins, we always had at least four. We wanted a pumpkin family. Once at home and the carving started we both quickly tired of pumpkin carving. Usually Hailey would do one, get bored and wander off then I would have to finish the rest. Not my idea of a relaxing Saturday night. Plus in just a few short days you have moldy, caved in pumpkins, seems like a lot of work for a few days enjoyment.
Finally I got smart. We carved one together, it was too much of a tradition to let go, and the rest we painted and decorated with silly props. Those pumpkins were wonderful! For one thing if you don’t like it you can wipe the paint off and start again, plus they last much longer than carved pumpkins.
Every year we try to come up with new ways to paint our pumpkin, things we haven’t tried in years past. And now, since we didn’t carve them I can still make pumpkin puree out of them when we are done.