Enjoy the imperfect process of carving your own pumpkin this season. The light that shines through will be worth it.
It's officially fall, but more importantly, it's officially the Halloween season.
That means it's time for Jack O'Lanterns!!
AKA - Pumpking Carving
AKA - Ripping out the innards of a pumpkin and taking a knife to what is left
...That took an oddly dark turn, but no matter. It's fun!
Just follow these simple steps:
1. Find a Pumpkin
Seems simple enough right??
Wrong.
I challenge you to not go to the nearest grocery or convenience store to purchase a pumpkin. That takes half the fun out of it! Instead, take the drive out to your local pumpkin patch. SO much more fun!
There's a great pumpkin patch and apple orchard combined in White Bear Lake called Pine Tree Apple Orchard. You can get your pumpkin and enjoy some delicious apples and a corn maze! I highly recommend it. Make a day of it with your friends and family.
It's ALL about the experience!
2. Clean it out
If you're looking into being a surgeon, I would say this is a great trial run to test how you handle slimy guts and things. The first time I did this I knew being a surgeon was nowhere in my future.
Now, some people take this very seriously and will not quit until every last string of goop has been removed. In fact, many will take a spoon or knife to scrape the inside so it's nice and smooth.
If that's you, then great. You do you.
But I will never have that much patience in my body.
I simply remove as much goop as I can until I get annoyed. Then I move on.
This is also a perfectly accepted method in my opinion.
3. Carve it out
That's right. Wield that knife.
Now, if you're anything like me, the artistic drawing gene passed right over you. In fact, it may often come back around to taunt you.
But this is the one glorious time that it doesn't matter. Because lets be honest, how many people can perfectly wield a knife through a pumpkin wall??
Ok, I'll admit, there's always that ONE person.
But just don't carve with them. They'll be just fine.
Pick your desired image. Landscape? Sassy face? (my personal favorite) Classic toothy smile? Great!
Then spend the next half hour laughing at how impossible it is to get the lofty image you had in your mind on to your pumpkin.
4. Light it up
My favorite part!
Light up the inside of your pumpkin, and watch it come streaming out the etchings you labored over.
Now, you can choose your classic candle, but make sure you have enough oxygen getting in otheriwise it'll go out. Also, make sure it's not too big of a candle, or else you can kinda melt/roast your pumpkin.
Not speaking from experience.
Ya know what, I'd just skip the real flame all together. Too complicated.
Those little battery-operated tea light candles are perfect. You can put several down inside the pumpkin til you get your desired brightness.
And then you avoid the whole, fire being fire thing. Nothing will accidentally be set ablaze.
Which is always a plus.
5. Soak it up
Enjoy.
Don't forget to sit back and take in the beautiful glow it gives in the night.
There is something so incredibly beautiful about seeing how a seemingly painful and tedious process ends in such beauty. It's a walking metaphor for life.
Yes, I am this sentimental and cheesy all the time.
I love it.
