Pumpkin Report

Well, we've survived another Pumpkin Party. The final prep was only slightly frantic, and we were able to enlist the aid of a handful of young assistants who hung streamers and orange lights, posted STOP signs on the doors of off-limits rooms upstairs, and helpfully labeled the coolers:


As usual, things started out pretty quiet. Eva's family arrived early enough to corner the goldfish market.


But it didn't stay quiet long. In the half hour after this picture was taken, several dozen people arrived and we embarked on a blur of greeting, coat-taking, drink-offering, pumpkin selection, and knife distribution that shifted gradually into a second blur of chip-refilling, soup-stirring, oven-tending, platter-hauling, bottle-opening, spill-mopping, pie-eating, fork-rinsing, lost-child-finding, sword-confiscating, and aborted conversation.

Moments that stand out of the blur include:

1. The decision to serve ourselves some pumpkin pie before serving it to the masses, followed by a wave of indecision about whether we'd rather eat Amy's, Colleen's, or our own pie, followed by the extremely fortunate decision to pile a large piece of each pie onto our plate before carrying the rest out to the dining room.

2. The arrival of the Higgins women, who had taken Jell-O Wigglers to a whole new level this year -- each quivering square housed a surprise solid treat!

3. The realization on the part of two knots of people at opposite ends of the kitchen that they were all happily drinking John and Karin's pear brandy; we were handed a glass at just the right moment to take part in the jolly toast that followed.

4. The full ten minutes it took to persuade Sauda that it was fine for her to just take her child and her pumpkin, bid us farewell, and go home without doing any dishes or sweeping up or anything like that. Only after we solemnly swore not to wash a single dish at her house when she has us over, and sealed this agreement with a handshake, was she comfortable taking her leave.

5. Asking Sophie where she got the glittery rainbow painted on her cheek, being told that "a lady in a purple hat gave it to me in the livingroom," and deducing that Bryan's mom had brought her facepaints (thanks, Luann!). Tri's comment: "See, you have created this structure where anything can happen, and you don't even know all the things that are going on at this party!"

We were able to step out of the bright warmth of the kitchen and into the cold drizzle outside for a quick look at the pumpkins before retreating to the final blur of empty-plate-clearing, pot-scraping, dish-washing, bowl-sorting, shoe-finding, and farewell hugs. In our humble opinion these were some of the best pumkins ever!