Last year, the Dean of the library where I work promoted a pumpkin carving contest for the employees of the library and really anyone else in the university. What a blast and yes, yours truly particpated.Having quite a large family who love to carve pumpkins warrants me buying at least eight or nine pumpkins each year (we always have some do overs!). Good thing because I was in the pumpkin carving mood. Theme....umm I needed a theme, something different, not the usual pumpkin face. Something I really enjoy, something that wouldn't be too difficult to carve....bingo-a FAMILY TREE. So, with my idea in my head (I should have drawn a picture on a piece of paper first!) I "carved" away. So many children so little room to get them all on the pumpkin along with the branches, the roots, etc. So much slimy gunk to pull out, let's not go into that. Of course, I had to save the pumpkin seeds for the kids too. It's so much easier to paint a pumpkin or supervise. After two attempts (remember I said we always have some do overs!) I completed my Family Tree pumpkin. On each branch I listed a name of one of my children. My children were amazed that MOM could actually carve a pretty good family tree too!
The next morning I carefully transported my work of art to the university library. It was added to the collection of other carved pumpkins which included cats, witches, Harry Potter, and more. The faculty, staff and students all voted and much to my surprise I won! What a thrill and the prize was a Borders gift certificate. What could be a better gift for an amateur genealogist than the opportunity to buy one of their favorite genealogy books!
Am I carving another pumpkin this year? Well, the pumpkins are sitting on the back porch. The kids are gearing up...we'll see what I'll "carve" up this year.....
