Every year, my father-in-law grows pumpkins, and as they're just starting to form, he carves the names of each of his grandchildren into the individual pumpkins. Some years they work brilliantly, and some years they don't. This year, Aidan and Cole's most definitely did.
When the kids were smaller, he would hide their pumpkins down on the farm where he and my mother-in-law live in Southern Minnesota. We'd bundle them up and send them out into the fields to choose a pumpkin to pick. It was pretty magical the first time, when they got out there only to find pumpkins with their names on it.
{Aidan in the meadow at the farm, finding her first pumpkin, at age 2}
Speaking of things that have gone, and things that are here, I'm so happy that Papa still makes the pumpkins for my now 10- and 13-year-old kids.
I can guarantee you when they walk through the door after school the magic of seeing their names will still remind them not only of what an awesome and creative grandpa they have, but of how much they are loved.
And the shrunken head apple faces he made aren't too shabby either:
I'm posting a giveaway tomorrow, so check back! I wanted to wish all of you a safe and happy Halloween a bit early.
And thank YOU Papa, for such an enduring and endearing tradition.
