Mission Jack-O-Lantern

When I was  a kid, carving a pumpkin into a Jack-o-lantern was simple and easy. We would swing by the grocery store and pick out the biggest pumpkin we could carry. Visions of Linus and Lucy rolling the pumpkin out of the pumpkin patch would play in our heads as we would haul the pumpkin inside. We would then grab a handful of newspapers (because those were commonplace in every house back then) and spread them across the span of the dining room table. One of my parents would grab a huge knife from the kitchen and hack a hole in the top so we could pull out the guts. I hated the feeling of the slimy pumpkin so I could rarely be convinced to help. Next, we would grab a sharpie and draw a face on our pumpkin. Usually, this face consisted of two triangle eyes, a triangle nose and a boxy mouth consisting of a few square teeth. Then, whichever parent was helping, would grab that massive knife and do their best to cut out the face. If the mouth was too detailed, they made up their own patten. When it was done, we would happily burn our little fingers sticking an actual candle down inside to make our Jack-o-lantern glow.

But that's not how it works anymore. No Siree! You have to have a Pinterest perfect pumpkin to post on Facebook for all your friends to Ooh! and Ahhh! over. And you better not use a real candle because your little snowflake might burn his wittle fingers! Instead, you buy a cute, fake, battery operated, flickering candle from the dollar section at Target. 

I remember Client One's first and second Halloweens. She got that traditional pumpkin face. It was simple and basic and she didn't care. I can remember seeing the emerging pumpkins of awesomeness scattered across my facebook feed and thinking, "Wow. These people clearly have way too much time on their hands!" But when Client One's third Halloween rolled around, we had jumped on the bandwagon. Her pumpkin was no longer just a boring face that any amatuer with a kitchen knife could do. It was a carefully crafted scene with a cat wearing a witch hat, sitting next to a jack-o-lantern with a bat flying above. It consisted of painstakingly tracing a pattern on the pumpkin and using special tools to create the picture. In the end, she loved it and we were worthy to post the picture on Facebook.

Last year, Client Two got the boring, traditional face. It seemed like a good, classic first pumpkin. Plus, he couldn't have cared less. Client One, however, was fully opinionated. Having tasted the glory of an amazing pumpkin the previous year, she needed an equally impressive jack-o-lantern. Luckily, we had found a Disney princess pumpkin decorating kit at Target. Of course, she picked out an intricate design of Cinderella in her sweeping ballgown with the castle in the background. She happily gutted her pumpkin and was eager to help out as her daddy did all the hard work. When it was done, we had two decent pumpkins and at least one was worthy of the Facebook post.

This year, we decided to go easy on ourselves. Instead of carefully tracing an intricate design onto each of their pumpkins, we picked out some simple stencils. Client Two picked out the eyes, nose and mouth he wanted for his pumpkin (and he was very enthusiastic about it, even though he really had no idea what was going on) and Client One picked out a simple stencil of a cat. Client One was more than happy to gut her pumpkin, but Client Two was very hesitant. He did NOT like the slimy guts. (That's my boy!) Once the pumpkins were properly gutted, hubby and I grabbed the official pumpkin carving tools from the previous years and went to work. I cut out Client Two's pumpkin face and Hubby turned Client One's pumpkin into a picture of a cat. When we were done, both clients were quite satisfied.

Having gained their approval, I felt confident enough to post the pictures online. So far, I have received an appropriate amounts of "likes" so I know we did okay. 

Mission Jack-O-Lantern: Complete.

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