Jack-O-Lantern

I decided this week that carving jack-o-lanterns is only theoretically fun for everybody.

Theoretically, mom thinks everyone is going to get an absolute kick out of doing this unique art we only get to do once a year.  So everyone enthusiastically scours the internet for ideas on spooky and funny faces for the pumpkin.

Theoretically, the kids can't wait to carve into that overgrown orange squash and make it into something fun.  But they can't yet yield a knife.  And then they take one look at those slimy, gooey insides and...well, let's let mom take care of those parts.

So mom finds herself all alone, gutting a disgusting squash that nobody will ever eat and cutting intricate artistic cuts into a overgrown vegetable.  And the kids come over and check on the progress from time to time.  

At the end, the kids do think that the jack-o-lantern  "they've" created is pretty cool.  They love to see him lit up with a candle at night and mom thinks to herself, "Jack-o-lanterns are so fun."

  

 I could NOT get the kids to all smile and look at the camera at the same time!  We tried a spooky picture instead:

So scary.