Last year I talked a little bit about my favorite fable behind Jack-O-Lantern’s, but I had plans for making our carving party extra special this year. I wanted to take Tom to a pumpkin patch (you know, with the hay rides and warm apple cider and corn maze!) because he’s never been to one, but Frankenstorm made it too unbearable to even leave the apartment, let alone to venture to a pumpkin patch. So I pulled out our local cider and warmed it on the stove, brought down some mugs and cookies, put on the Halloween internet radio, and we had a cute little indoor carving party again.
Did I mention this is Pumpkin’s favorite holiday? I adopted him in October, he was just a tiny orange ball, and I love autumn- so I wanted to give him a season appropriate name. I thought “Pumpkin” might be a little feminine sounding, so I was deciding between that and “Cider”. But then while I was carving my pumpkin that year, I discovered his massive love for actual pumpkin. He tried licking my carving knife clean and when that was clean he crawled into my pumpkin and started eating it! And that was that. (And here I bet you thought I just named him that because I love pumpkin so much!)
But, without further ado, photos from this year’s carving party. (You can also see our very first pumpkin carving party together, and the last minute carving we did after coming back from our honeymoon in Ireland.)
10 Comments
Jen
30 Oct 2012 at 10:47 pmSpooky and fun! Living in a small apartment in Brooklyn doesn’t give us a lot of space to put a large pumpkin. but perhaps I will grab a few small ones….I miss pumpkin carving!
Sara
2 Nov 2012 at 9:02 pmThe pumpkins were a little big for us this year too, Jen. I think next year we’ll go back to the small pumpkin pie sized ones because those fit so nicely on our window sill. =)
Kathryn
30 Oct 2012 at 2:52 ampumpkin’s naming story is adorable 🙂
Sara
2 Nov 2012 at 9:02 pmThanks, Kathryn! =)
Jessica
29 Oct 2012 at 5:10 pmI love that you have pumpkin carving parties with just the two of you. I can’t seem to get into the holiday spirit (any holiday) with just my husband and I. I’m looking forward to having kids, just to find that holiday magic again, with them.
Sara
2 Nov 2012 at 9:05 pmI know what you mean about the kids and holiday magic. I want to make sure Tom and I have our chance to celebrate the magic with each other and discover our favorite things to do together that way when we do have kids we know exactly where to go and what to do!
Addy @ Six-Kick Switch
29 Oct 2012 at 1:22 pmWhat a cute idea! Your pumpkins turned out beautifully, I love all the fall photography you two have been doing lately!
How funny that Pumpkin’s name ended up portending his personality! I’ve never met a cat that likes pumpkin – maybe the vitamins keep his fur nice and orange 😉
Sara
2 Nov 2012 at 9:36 pmThanks, we’re definitelyy making a point to try and take “every day” stuff about our surroundings because we have some readers that don’t share the same seasons/fauna/etc that we do!
And about Pumpkin, he has a thing for strawberries, too. I will bite into one and then let him lick the juice off the leftover bits.
Jennifer
29 Oct 2012 at 11:55 amI really like how much you care about this yearly ritual of carving pumpkins. I like to see what yours look like.
Zach and I do the same thing, but our ritual is to watch The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown while we carve b/c I absolutely adore those old Peanuts cartoons.
When I was little we had a male cat named Pumpkin as well! My parents bought their first house and this orange cat kept hanging around the place. One night when it was snowing the cat ran inside when my dad went to get firewood and the cat jumped up on my mom’s lap like it was home. We realized the cat had been abandoned, but this was his house. We named him pumpkin because of his bright orange color and decided to keep him.
Sara
2 Nov 2012 at 9:55 pmThanks, Jennifer!
As a kid my mother LOVED Snoopy/Charlie Brown, but I don’t remember The Great Pumpkin at all. I remember the Christmas special, though! A few years ago Tom and I picked up the Peanuts “trilogy” though, but I forgot we had it (and that there was a Halloween one)- I’ll have to watch it!
Your story about Pumpkin was very touching! I had to hug my Pumpkin and tell him he shares a name with a very well loved cat who made a family very happy (and then try not to cry about it like a dork).
Thanks for sharing that story with me.