I was home alone most of the morning and afternoon, so I was doing research on colleges and jobs that I might be interested in doing in the future. I was sick of being stuck in the house all day, so I went for a walk in the woods behind my house. The trees are awfully beautiful right now. Varying degrees of red, orange and yellow. It was a spectacular sight once I reached the top of the hill. When I got home I waited for all the kids arrive. They had been super excited when I brought it home. They couldn't stop playing with it and carrying it around and asking questions about it. Finally we got to carve it. First we all agreed on a traditional jackolantern face. And then we dug in. They had a blast. Playing with the guts, scooping out the insides, sorting out the seeds, and occasionally smearing of the guts on each other, and me, which resulted in bouts of crying and anger which quickly abated. Once it was finally finished we took it outside onto the porch and lit it with a candle inside. It already has complements from the neighbors. I am glad they liked it, and I enjoyed sharing the tradition with them.
