Carving Pumpkins 2012

As a kid, I always liked the idea of carving a jack-o-lantern.  We always had a pumpkin, but never carved it.  I guess it was probably too much of an undertaking with 8 kids, not to mention that the jack-o-lantern goes bad in about 5 minutes in the kind of heat that is still around during the day in October in Tempe.  So as an adult, I have always loved this tradition.  We go to the grocery store and let each of the kids pick out their own pumpkin.  We then make them help scoop out the goo.  We let them draw their own designs and once they are old enough, they get to help carve.  (I think this was Josh's first year doing major carving on his own pumpkin.  Of course he chose the most complicated design)  I turn on the Garfield Halloween special, which is my favorite holiday special of all time (closely followed by Charlie Brown Christmas) and if we have time we follow it with It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.  Then, the least favorite part of the night comes - cleaning up the whole mess.  It is messy and chaotic, but I love it.