Meet Larry and Jack, the pumpkins.
Every year I try to strike just the right note with Halloween decor. I like the festive, happy and fun aspects of the holiday, but skulls and daggers don’t fit well with the overall goal of making my home a haven of warmth and light.
With that in mind, my daughter and I went out in search of decorations. When we selected Jack, he seemed quite benign, smiling there on the shelf alongside scary and tortured-looking plastic pumpkins.
But when we got him home, we sensed something a bit sinister in his character. I don’t know. Can you see it?
We decided that behind that slightly menacing grin and those hollow eyes we could see some good in Jack. If we showered him with love and acceptance, we knew that someday, he could become a good pumpkin.
It was just starting to work, until we brought home a real pumpkin to carve.
Larry had some scars, but his friendly good nature was evident from the outset. Larry was the epitome of light-hearted fun.
Jack didn’t like it one bit.
What Jack doesn’t know (and we couldn’t bring ourselves to tell him in front of Larry), is that he’ll still be around next year, while Larry only has a short time with us to play and make us laugh. Perhaps it’s fitting that Larry’s expression is somewhat reminiscent of Frosty the Snowman.
p.s. Larry’s pattern was free at www.pumpkinlady.com. (What a great site!) She has amazing patterns, some to purchase, along with free instructional videos.
October 27th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
What a fun story and such great jack o’lanterns. I visited the Pumpkin Lady site and watched her videos. Very informative. I just might have to give this a try!