The image for this post is from the Joseph Reboli website. He was a brilliant artist who captured everyday life in extraordinary ways. Rebolicenter.org
Our family has a yearly tradition of gathering together and making ordinary pumpkins into “outstanding works of art-kinda.” Well, maybe not art, but certainly some transformation happens with those pumpkins, but mostly we just have fun.
So the event goes like this: some planning, lots of jokes, background spooky music, pumpkin seeds baking, critical judging and a whole lot of laughs. It all begins with picking just the correct pumpkins. Usually our son and daughter-in-law secure the specimens which represent a variety of shapes and sizes. This year we were treated to an extra surprise: small pumpkins/gourds in great colors for decoration. And then came the PUMPKINS. One by one the orange circular and spherical items were marched into the kitchen and displayed on the counter. Sitting next to each other the room looked like a glorious fanciful pumpkin patch. You know what I mean!
In preparation for this yearly event, I had covered the dining table with the finest plastic pumpkin-themed table cloth (from a dollar store) and had set out the various tools that would be needed. These included my gourmet cheese serving devices, an ice cream scoop, knives of different lengths and blades, tools from the garage and, of course, bowls for the ooy-gooy stuff from inside of the pumpkins. Later seeds are to be separated and placed on baking sheets for the all-important roasting.
Then came the moment of decision……the judging of the jack-o-lanterns. The artists (better known as family members) line up their respective works and stand behind them (figuratively and literally ). Naturally, candles have to be placed inside of the lanterns and the house lights must be turned off to maximize the best illumination for viewing the carvings. So….how does judging occur? Well, it varies from year to year, but it usually ends up with every artist receiving FIRST PLACE for some category. Yes, that is correct, there are only winners in our annual carving championship because we all have so much fun doing it.
Please note, I have included a pix of the macabre aftermath. It is not a pretty picture, but a necessary one to achieve the total experience. View at your own risk!!!!
