Saturday, our family hosted our 21st Annual Pumpkin Carving Party. Truth be known, it began as a ploy, to give 12 year old Missy (our nickname for Wee Folk Art’s very own Michelle) a chance to meet the cute new boy that moved in across the street. She and her friend, Sarah, had been admiring him from afar and were too shy to cross the street and introduce themselves. They decided they needed a bona fide excuse to spend some time with him. Their solution… a neighborhood bash… and that gave birth to our very first Pumpkin Carving Party. (BTW… Incase you are wondering about the success of the evening… Jared became a permanent fixture around our house after that!)  True Story 🙂

Although the size and shape of the party has changed over the years, ranging from 135 guests (soccer teams upped that one!) to 18 attendees (a very challenging family time) we’ve never missed a single year. The Annual Pumpkin Carving Party has turned into one of our family’s most treasured traditions, not only because we love the fall, and this certainly helps celebrate the season, but it also marks the beginning of “The Holidays”. (As a bit of an aside…at some point my children had a Holiday Intervention with me and I was (I can’t put this in any milder terms) FORBIDDEN to listen to Christmas carols until after Halloween!) So, as you can well image, while preparing for the Annual Pumpkin Carving Party, I also begin assembling my imposing collection of Christmas CDs! (I’m ready for you Dean Martin!)

It is an evening we all look forward to, and although it drizzled for the first 15 minutes, the skies cleared, and everyone was able to carve their pumpkins, eat yummy food, run the yard with flashlights, warm themselves by the bonfire, and play in the straw fort/maze, which, BTW, our dogs Leonard and Sheldon LOVE!

Happy Halloween!