It was pumpkin carving time in the Burney house last week, and it wasn't just for the 'young in years'; it was for the 'young in heart'.Ben and JoAnne brought over their pumpkins to add to ours, and we set them out on the kitchen table to go to work on our masterpieces. Each of us drew out a design that would impress and elicit oooh's and ahhhh's from the others and then set to work carving. Russ decided to have Mom, at 81, draw his pattern for him, figuring competition was sharp and he could use the help. Ben had his farm scene already planned and set to carving right away, while Jeremiah found an idea online and free-handed his witch-across-the-moon pattern, adjusting for size and his pumpkin's unique characteristics to come up with his potential champion jack-o-lantern. I drew a cat face on mine, thinking of Brynne and Noah's new kitty and Leah and Alaina's 'Huck' whom they love. Mom set to work cutting out the cat face while I reached in grabbing out the 'guts'.
We all stood or sat around the table wearing our own 'hard at work' expression - tongue hanging out, lips clamped tightly by upper teeth, pursed lips, or slack-jawed... Yep, we were each determined to end up with the 2009's most impressive gourd! Getting gooey is just part of the process and orange slime dripped from our fingers as we dug out the seeds and set them aside for roasting - yum! Leah wasn't too sure she wanted anything to do with the goo, but after some experimental poking and tentative tries, she decided it wasn't so bad and dove in.
When all was said and done, we lit them up and, like every other year, oooh'd and ahhh'd over each one of them, declaring that one could not be chosen over the other. Then we took our picture to commemorate yet another year of Goo and fun together.
