Sunday, October 31, 2010

Happy Halloween!

For Halloween, I thought I'd share our 2010 Jack O'Lantern display. (You can click on any photo to enlarge if you 'd like.) At our house we have a tradition called the Nason Family Pumpkin Glow. We've done it for four years now. We carve up a whole pile of pumpkins (27 this year). We light them the night before Halloween and have a party for several families we know. Then, tonight, we will of course light them again for our Trick-or-Treaters. We will likely have 150+ kids.
My husband is the pumpkin scooper-outer and I am the carver. Like my quilts, I just do them freehand with no pattern. It goes more quickly if I just make it up as I go along. For the ones that have letters on them I do draw the letters in marker first to be sure they are spaced out okay. The kids are the design consultants and help pick the seeds out of the pumpkin glop so we can roast them. At five-years-old and three-years-old, they can't help carve yet, but will definitely be involved as they get older.
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We have them lit with LED lights. Some change colours and some just flicker amber.

People often ask what I use for carving. I use a paring knife, a steak knife and a tablespoon. Nothing fancy at all, and it works well.
I grouped the pumpkins together last night to get good pictures in the dark, but the photo above shows how they are actually stretched out along our front step to make a nice display for the Trick-or-Treaters.
So Happy Halloween! Hope everyone has a great night!!!!