The Great Pumpkin

As children, our annual pumpkin carving was fun, messy, and yielded a bunch of poorly hacked little jack-o-lanterns. We were kids, and it was all we could do to not cut off a thumb while carving a crooked smile into our pumpkin. (These were the days before pumpkin safety knives for children---we were just expected to be careful and Dad and Mom would help monitor the situation so no limbs were lost). These days, it seems like pumpkin carving is no longer for kids! Adult pumpkin carving has taken on a new height of sophistication. While we still think a bunch of excited kids hacking jack-o-lanterns is more fun and creates the best memories, it can be fun to see what patient adults are doing with their pumpkins. Martha Stewart is probably the expert on this (of course, she has an incredible staff to hand-select the perfect pumpkin and then they get paid to make sure the carving comes out perfect....) and her website is where you can find the how-to instructions for all the pumpkin beauties above, in the photograph. Even if you just peruse her website to dream of what it might be like to have all the glorious free time it takes to create a lace-cut pumpkin or a pumpkin chandelier, the ideas are still great. And, if you do happen to make something fabulously grown-up out of a pumpkin this year, send us a picture so we can share it with our other readers! In the meantime, we hope that all the hacked-up jack-o-lanterns create smiles and good memories for all. Have a very safe and happy Halloween.