Sacrifice to the Great Pumpkin

Nikolai and I carved a pumpkin tonight. I got two, an orange and a white. He seemed more interested in the orange one, so we chose it for slaughter. He calls them "bibbidy bobbidy boo"'s, from his recent exposure to Cinderella. Anything resembling a pumpkin, a horse, a carriage, Cinderella theme colors, or Cinderella herself is called a "bibbidy bobbidy boo". I'd have to logically conclude from this that his favorite character is the fairy god-mother.

I always forget what a pain carving pumpkins can be until I actually get the "lid" cut out and start trying to free the slimy blobs inside. I don't think I've ever once carved a pumpkin without just giving up on the spoon idea and digging in with my bare hands. Tonight was no different. Nikolai was fascinated with the whole process, and watching every step of the seedectomy intently. I casually mentioned to him that I was removing the "pumpkin guts". For about 10 minutes he followed on with "Pumpkin guts! pumpkin guts. pumpkin guts, mama. pumpkin guts! We gotta get the pumpkin guts outta there! Are those pumpkin guts, mama?" Until I decided to distract him by drawing on the pumpkin with a crayon to outline the carving. This was very disressing (although cutting big chunks out of it was not) to him and he anxiously watched and whimpered as I drew eyes, nose and mouth on this thing. Once I started to cut out the pieces I'd just marked, he joined along happily stabbing the pumpkin in random spots with the tiny carving knife provided in the carving set.

When I finished, the jack-o-lantern looked about like Nikolai had carved it all by himself. I'd say carving pumpkins is not my forte.
I was very sad that I didn't get any photos of the occasion, but I figured a recounting of it here was the next best thing.