Halloween Pumpkins

Halloween was really great. I was going to do my makeup really fancy...and then I got home from work and made a quick dinner and only had like 10 minutes to get ready. So I just threw on Brett's hockey jersey and we both went to the church Trunk-or-Treat as Blues fans. I'm glad I didn't spend time making myself fancy because it rained. That didn't stop the trick-or-treaters though. We had so many kids at the Trunk-or-Treat. All the neighborhood kids kept coming and we ran out of stuff to give out by the time the rain got heavy. We brought our jack-o-lanterns to decorate our trunk. I didn't have any small tea candles so I improvised and put birthday candles in shot glasses. The birthday candles burned down so fast and the shot glass in Brett's pumpkin started on fire. Brett was laughing so hard when his pumpkin burst into flame, shooting fire out of the jack-o-lanterns eyes. We just let it be that way until we left. The pumpkin is totally black inside now. 

This year we tried to be clever with our pumpkin-carving. We cut holes in the backsides of the pumpkins so that we wouldn't burn ourselves trying to light the candles. We also spread a mixture of vinegar, lemon juice, and water all over the inside and outside of the pumpkins right after we carved them. I'm impressed at how well-preserved they are even after almost a week. They don't look stale or moldy. I also read that if you dunk your jack-o-lantern in bleach water that it will kill the bacteria and keep your pumpkin looking fresh longer too. Or you could just barbeque it like Brett.