Monday, October 26, 2015

Pumpkin Carving - Day 25



The fire crackles in the corner stove.  Smells of fresh cut pumpkin blends with fresh cut wood.  The boys murmur quietly to each other, each at their own pumpkin, working intently pulling pumpkin guts out.  Every once in awhile Luke's power saw buzzes loudly, deafening us all for the moment it takes to make a cut; the whir of the drill fills the silence in between.

Every couple of years pumpkin carving has grown a little bigger in our family as we add another pumpkin for another boy to claim as his own.  This year I considered having all the boys carve only the one Big Max pumpkin I grew in our garden.  Not only did I think it would be a little less...well, less everything, but my pumpkins didn't produce all that well.  I only ended up with one Big Max carving pumpkin and three small pie pumpkins.  Fortunately our friendly neighbours had a big bunch of pumpkins to share and the boys happily picked out far more than we needed in a variety of sizes.  Needless to say, each boy had their own pumpkin to carve this year again.


Incorporating some fun pumpkin carving and seed counting homework Evan had with our family tradition prompted the afternoon in Luke's garage.  Dylan napped, Evan planned and counted, the boys each waited their turn to start.  Luke continued to work at his project, pausing to carve the pumpkin faces while I sorted plump white seeds from gooey, stringy orange slime.  The boys each settled in, elbow-deep, concentration mixed with offbeat boy-humour.

Dylan awoke and joined us, blinking sleep from his eyes.  His uncertainty quickly gave way to handfuls of pumpkin chunks.  Nicholas perched on the side of the table balancing precariously so his strong arms could reach further.  Evan methodically counted his seeds.  The twins grew bored and challenged each other to lift Dad's tools and pieces of wood a little higher than the other.














An easy clean up.  Seeds roasted.  Marshmallows bobbing in hot chocolate.  Chairs gathered in front of the toasty warm fire.  A perfect way to spend a cool autumn afternoon with daddy in his shop.


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