Of Good Report

I love Halloween Night.  As much as I hate carving pumpkins I love the actual night of halloween.  A friend summed it up for me when she also stated her dislike of pumpkin carving when she said that she hated all the preparation for halloween, but halloween itself is great.  I fully agree.  I don't love the halloween parades at the school, or all parties at school.  I do love the magic of the night.  There is something magical about eating a nice warm dinner pulled out of the crockpot or some simmering soup then getting all costumed up and hitting the streets.  I love the honest to goodness trick or treating.  The kind where all the neighborhood heads out going door to door begging for candy.  I could do without "trunk or treat" or all the trick or treating in offices, or local businesses.  It is fun to see all of the children, and adults, dressed up in classic, or scary, or clever costumes.  I love the excitement of the...

I hate carving pumpkins.  I realize hate is a strong word and I honestly don't hate too many things, but carving pumpkins makes the short list.  I know I am the title of this blog is "of good report", but I can think of few, if any, virtues of pumpkin guts!  They are slimy, stinky and messy.  I always try to put on a happy face as we spread out the newspaper, pull out bowls and pass around sharp knives to my children.  I keep a prayer in my heart the the only guts and gore we see comes out of the pumpkin and not out of any fingers.  So far we have not had to get any stitches due to pumpkin carving--there it is a virtue. Tonight started out quite well, Spencer, Taylor and Emma were fairly independent gutters and carvers.  Estelle required quite a bit of assistance, and Sarah, bless her heart, decided to paint her pumpkin.  This of course meant we also had paint to clean up, but the fewer the pumpkin guts the better.  Sarah was...