The pumpkins were carved.

We were a little slow getting ready for Halloween this year.
To be honest, I'm not a big fan of Halloween and I've never decorated much for it.
In years past I have sewn many, many costumes. Teen size Disney Princesses, several clowns, Sylvester and Tweety (which must have earned the prize for ~most often reused~ by now) , flowers, strawberries, the list goes on. And, I confess that there have been a couple of particularly lame years. One that comes to mind was when Kayleigh was 2 years old and we put her inside a pillowcase. With a pillow. I can't even remember now if she was meant to be a pillow or a marshmallow but there were an even number of guesses for both. So we just went with whatever the guesses were at the time.
The lack of decorations started in the early years when we were just too poor to afford them. Especially with Halloween coming just 2 months before Christmas which was already hard on a vry tight budget. Then, later, when times weren't so lean we could afford the decorations. But I quickly learned that a bunch of ghost and goblin trinkets scattered about the house quickly irritated my "no nick nacks because I LOATHE dusting" sensibilities.
Then there's the candy. ugh! I'm too frugal to get excited about spending a ton of money on candy to give to other children. And the argument that we get back as much by trick or treating as we give away holds no water for me. I'd never buy that much candy for my own kids!
LOL Who is the Scrooge for Halloween? I am that.
But this year I actually kind of got into it right at the last minute. As in, yesterday.
I put together the traditional Halloween meal of homemade chili, corn bread, and hot chocolate. Even though I would much prefer to try something new and interesting after all these years. Maybe a Curried Pumpkin Soup. Or Butternut Squash Soup. But I stuck with what the kids have come to expect every year. Because they love it and I love them.
I got the house straightened up and decided to add some decorations to the ones that I had let the kids put up a week or two before.
And I totally loved spending time with the kids and grandkids as they trickled in and out.
Everyone came by to eat and visit for a little while except for Crystal.
It was, in fact, the best Halloween I can remember in the past few years.
Back to the topic of this post...the pumpkins were carved.
Kenzie found a pattern on the internet and helped Emily find one for her pumpkin too. (They've really been getting along alot better just lately. Thank goodness! It was pretty bad there for awhile. LOL)
Emily actually grew her own pumpkin this year! She planted it as an activity at her Earth Day Birthday party last April. I think we'll grow our own pumpkins next year too. The kids had fun watching them grow. And they grew so fast you practically could sit and watch it happen. We were amazed. Unfortunately, bugs got to all but this one. We'll have to see what we can do about that next year.
Jaxon had fun scooping the seeds in and out of his pumpkin for awhile and then I carved it for him. He loved it and made sure that anyone looking at the pumpkins knew that this one was his.
At the end of the evening Kayleigh suggested that I could make chili AND something more gourmet next year. Maybe I will. Maybe the tradition will end up being about a warm meal (of any flavor) and warm memories of having fun together.