We had our family pumpkin carving contest last weekend and we all did fantastic this year, even Keegan's pumpkin was amazing and this is her second year to do her pumpkin completely by herself.
We all had a great time and we actually made eighteen cups of pumpkin from all of our pumpkin scrapings and that will get us through the winter. Saving the pumpkin meat and cooking it down, makes great pumpkin to have on hand for breads, pies, muffins and cakes. I just cook it down, pulse it in the food processor and then put it in one cup increments into freezer bags. We use our pumpkin for our Thanksgiving pies and other yummy things all winter long. We did our seeds as well toasting them in the oven with a little canola oil and garlic salt. They turned out amazing.
It was exciting to put the pumpkins out and wait for dark to come to light them and see how well we did with our carving. This is such an exciting time of year for the family. It begins our holiday season where we spend a great deal of time together eating, laughing and playing. We enjoy our family time and sharing our days and evenings together cooking, doing puzzles and playing games.
Having a close family bond is a great way for children to grow up and learn how to interact with others. I didn't really have that as a child and I've always worked hard at giving it to my children. I think it gives them substance in their other relationships. Watching them grow up and form friendships and have relationships is very heart warming, but sad as well knowing someday they will all be out of the nest. Enjoying holidays and sharing family time is so important because it goes by so quickly.
