Fall is in the air and pumpkins are plentiful—Halloween is soon upon us. This was a big holiday for our family growing up; the kids, Jim and I really loved getting into the fun of it.
When Molly was about 18 months I made an angel costume, compete with a halo and wings. She was darling. Next year she was the devil, also darling. Then came a witch, cheetah, you get it. When the three oldest were the three little kittens (that had lost their mittens), I was officially the costume maker. Jim would do the decorations outside, corn stocks, hay bales, pumpkins and it always looked great.
Jim's real talent was unleashed during Halloween during pumpkin carving, we had the best, most creative carved pumpkins in Eden Prairie (at least to us and our neighbors). Jim's artistic ego was stroked every time some one commented on the wondrous pumpkins at our door. It was a very serious project, creating the pumpkin faces and of course the carving could not be started until just before it was time for trick or treating (much too LATE in my opinion) when I was trying to get the kids fed and into their costumes.
I would clean, scoop out the pumpkins and set them in a row on the newspaper covered kitchen table. Our artist-in-residence would arrive home from work to begin his creations. He would gaze at each pumpkin conjuring up the face that it held. We are talking 6 to 8 creations that needed to be done before our can't-wait-a-minute-more-kids could go out trick or treating. To say that putting the candles in, lighting them, and placing them in JUST the right position was harried and stressful would be an understatement, but we managed to live through it every year. (Jim came close to losing his life several years, not by my hand, but his costumed children.)
Jim and I loved working on this together, as the kids got older we all pitched in to decorate the outside, each year getting a little spookier than the next. Maybe that is why Halloween became such a big deal in our family, because we worked together. Those were always the happiest times.
Sometimes pre planing "spontaneous" moments make them (moments) more fun for everyone
Pick a candy bar that no one else likes, then you never have to share. You will learn to love it. (Mine was a Butterfinger)
