October 31 - Family Fun

Halloween - I really don't like this celebration. I haven't for years...because of the dark side. Plus, I always am fearful about the stories that follow this day of children who burnt or injured themselves on fireworks. But I do appreciate that many people love it and I do admit it does promote some great fun family times.
Dressing up is always fun and to see the excitment in young and old alike as they plan for and prepare their costumes.And of course the children get so excited over the candy and I enjoy doling it out to them and being rewarded with smiles!

But what I came to realize ever more this year is the opportunity to be creative that this occasion brings out of us.
In the past, I have always enjoyed carving pumpkins and makeing the friendliest, most cheerful big smiled face that I could on a pumpkin. Each year, it would look slightly different depending on the shape and size of the pumpkin and the thickness of the shell compared to the sharpness of my knife. But now a days....wow, the carvings are incredible and much more complex and the pumpkins are so diverse. My family LOVES pumpkins and not only because they make the most wonderful pies!!
I saw Sean strain himself over the BIGGEST pumpkin that he just had to have!


And Frank, (and yes, Randy too), spend their hard earned money to buy pumpkins to carve...and just when I thought they had way too many pumpkins and couldn't possibly use all of them, Frank goes out and buys more enlisting the help of Angela and Christine to spend their entire Saturday afternoon carving!! 23 pumpkins in all!!! What a parade! Our hillside driveway was a beacon to trick-or-treaters in our neighbourhood!
Hope you enjoy the smile boxes below. It was a fun time!!

Ecard personalized with Smilebox

Greeting card generated with Smilebox