Two Days After Halloween

And the

evidence is everywhere to be found. There are candy wrappers beneath the furniture, shrunken pumpkin heads waiting to be picked up by the garbage truck, and one Halloween costume with holes in the armpits, which has been worn almost constantly for three days. Time for the next holiday!

It worked out well for everyone, though. The kids made some money selling candy to their dad, and some unfortunate grad students at CU got stomachaches from gorging themselves on it.

Carving pumpkins is a feast for the five senses, I've decided. First, there's that sucking sound when you pull the top off the pumpkin and you first see all the pumpkin guts and seeds. Then you smell that pumpkin smell that only comes around once a year. But when you smell it you remember being a kid and watching "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!" And then you feel the pumpkin guts and pull out the slippery seeds to put on a cookie sheet to roast. And of course there's the ceremonial lighting of the pumpkin to make sure it looks okay with the candle in it, so you see the flame and smell the smoke. Why do we do this only once a year?