Let's Put A Smile On That Face!

Here we are in December. The most festive month of the year! You know what that makes me want to do? If you guessed carve pumpkins, then you are correct!

A few weeks ago, I bought a few pumpkins for Thanksgiving. I didn't initially want to buy them for carving, but by the time I got to the check out, it was all I was thinking about. I knew I had to wait until after Thanksgiving, but I finally got around to it today.

With the help of Stay Puft, we decided on this pumpkin for our first one. Now, I know the ropes of carving pumpkins, but this was Stay Puft's first time. So we had to look at the instructions.

Eight steps to carving a perfect pumpkin. That really seems like too many...

Five steps? PERFECT! Oh wait...they gloss over getting all the guts out of the pumpkin...guess that's important...

These are all the standard things that come with a set. I got this set on clearance at K-Mart for like $5 bucks. The ghost poking wheel is the single greatest thing I have ever seen, so this was naturally a must buy.

We picked out our tools and we are ready to go to work.

These are small pumpkins that are generally used for pie and not carving. As a result...these are packed with guts and seeds. I was amazed at how much I had to get out of it. Unfortunately...I have rather large hands, so it was a struggle to clean it out properly...

But once I had, the results were beautiful! So clean and not a seed in sight.

Here are the remains. I am writing this as I am munching on delicious pumpkin seeds. Be jealous!

After some work and repeating the steps, here is the final product. All free-hand...as they were far too small for any of the patterns. But you can't argue with the results!

Stay Puft was so happy with the pumpkins. He gave them all big hugs and told them he loved them. I don't have the heart to tell him that they will eventually rot...

I put in some of my electric tea candles and watched them flicker in their glory for a few minutes. If it wasn't already sunrise, you can bet these would be outside. Perhaps later tonight.

Carving pumpkins will always be one of my favorite activities. Everything about it brings back memories and I know there are certainly more memories to come. To help you properly enjoy, here is a video of my pumpkins and there are here to sing you a very special message.

Nickelodeon - 1, Disney - 0

I know it's December and I should be focusing on Christmas stuff, but Halloween still seems like it's here. Maybe I am crazy. Who knows? I felt exceptionally Halloween-centric this evening, so I opened a bottle of apple cider and sat down to finally watch The Boy Who Cried Werewolf.

I feel very sad that I didn't know about this movie sooner. It premiered in 2010 and I didn't even find out about it until November 1st of this year. I try to have my finger on the pulse, but we can't always. As you know from reading my blog, I love the Disney Channel Original Movies centered around Halloween. It makes me sad that Disney has been lazy for the past few years (I don't really count My Babysitter is a Vampire as a DCOM), but in their absence Nickelodeon has picked up the slack.

The story follows a family who goes to Romania to inherit a family castle, but once they arrive, things are not as they appear to be. Isn't that always the case? It's a fun little family movie with good acting and surprisingly great special effects for a made for TV movie. I guess my only qualm is I wish werewolves and vampires weren't so intertwined in this day and age. It seems you can't have one without the other, but that is no fault of The Boy Who Cried Werewolf. They are just following the trend.

I have no clue is Nick will be airing this again before next Halloween, but I wouldn't rule it out as a possibility. If not, I am sure there are other means for finding the movie out there.

A+ Nickelodeon...you have kicked Disney Channel's ass all over the place this past year. Keep it up!