So Easy, It’s Scary
Published 12:00 am Saturday, October 17, 2015
- So Easy, It’s Scary
Fall is such an inspiring time of year, particularly in Central Oregon. The weather shifts, bringing warm days and cold nights. The deciduous trees and bushes transform into vibrant hues, bursting with reds and golds, bright against the darkness of the evergreens. The kids settle into the new school-day routine. Bedtime gets easier thanks to darkness settling in before 8 p.m. each night. And as October begins to pass, pumpkins and gourds begin popping up everywhere — situated on front porches, lining driveways and haunting windows everywhere.
Carving jack-o’-lanterns is a cherished tradition in many families, an exciting activity that sets the mood of the season. Tromping through the pumpkin patch in search of the perfectly shaped and sized pumpkin brings smiles and laughter to kids of all ages. The creative visions of that creepy carving begin to take shape, right there in the field.
It’s an adventure I cherish with my kids. We plan an entire weekend to devote to our pumpkins, brainstorming ideas days in advance, giddy with anticipation of how amazing they are going to turn out — better than last year for sure. But when the newspaper is spread and the carving knives come out, there is always a disconnect between what we have envisioned and what we quickly realize as the reality of just what you can do with a thick-skinned, slimy-gutted, crooked and unbalanced pumpkin. Especially when you’re little — my boys are just 9 and 5 years old this year.
My boys have great attitudes, thrilling at the end result of whatever hack job we manage every year. The more hacked, the scarier after all.
But for me, the scariest part is often watching those little hands as they do their best to manage the carving knives, because like most kids, my boys want to do it (mostly) themselves.
That’s why this year, we decided to break away from tradition and take a different approach to creating the perfect halloween pumpkins. Instead of the usual pumpkin carving kit, we bought acrylic paints!
The brainstorming for ideas was even more fun, knowing we could do just about anything with a pumpkin if we were disguising it with tools from the craft bin. Even the search for just the right size and shaped pumpkins was inspiring.
What resulted were some of the most perfect “jack-o’-lanterns” we’ve ever made. But the best part was the fun we had along the way. And the boys are thrilled that we were able to have our pumpkin weekend early, knowing their creepy creations will last much longer than the carved counterparts of years past.