Pumpkin Love! 

 I have had a long-standing love affair with pumpkins, some might even say an obsession! Oh how I love, love, love pumpkins! I am so glad that God created pumpkins! I love everything about pumpkins, including their name! I bet God had a joyful time when He created pumpkins. They evoke thoughts & memories that are always happy & fun. When I was growing up, getting a pumpkin for a jack-o-lantern was tantamount to getting a Christmas tree! It meant Halloween & fun costumes that my mother always made for each of us five kids. (My favorite costume she ever made for me was Peter Pan, complete with the curly toed slippers! All of the neighborhood kids were so envious!) Trick or treating was a child's paradise, & frosted sugar cookies, popcorn balls & hot cider were just as welcome as the delectable, sugary, candy confections.  When I was around eight years old I had my first taste of hot Dr. Pepper with a lemon in it. I remember I thought it was ambrosial perfection. Though I have never had one since! But the night was full of magic & that was part of it. & oh the fragrance of a lighted pumpkin. Such enchantment that the scent takes me to the land of remembrance, instantaneous time travel. I wish someone would invent an "Essence of Burning Pumpkin" candle, but so far, nothing even comes close, but then maybe it wouldn't have the magic that accompanies the real thing so as to make it common. & the land of enchantment is never common.                                                                          When I grew up & had children of my own, we stopped celebrating Halloween because of all of the attachments of ungodly things that are done on that night, but instead began to celebrate Autumn & harvest, either on the last Saturday night of October (unless it was the 31st) or the first Saturday of November. We would have a party at the church & dress in costumes.( One year, one of our daughters made her own costume which was the box that held the toothpaste tube. It was great & so creative! A giant replica!) But I soon started the tradition of our own Harvest Party in which friends & family members came, costume attired, & played lots of pumpkin games & great old tried & trues like bobbing for apples, scavenger hunts, & Find the Scarecrow. (He was portable!) We had a firepit too for roasted hot dogs, marshmallows & or S'mores, with hay bale seating (not too close to the fire!) & quilts to wrap up in because in South Dakota that time of year could get pretty chilly. & while the adults fellowshipped, the semi-adults (otherwise known as teenagers) would start to feel ambitious after being fueled by homemade caramel corn & pumpkin cookies, played rousing games of  "Hide-N-Seek" in the dark! Hopefully there was no moon because she didn't play fair, always giving the hider away with her playful little shafts of illuminating light. Even as an adult I could never resist joining in with the kids. I guess it's the mystery lover in me! (Once, I was hiding in bushes & for balance set my hand on the ground, but right into a bumblebee's nest! Double, triple & quadruple OUUUUUCH!!! If I remember though, I did finish the game until I was found. That's dedication  to fun! 

For the third year, where I usually get our pumpkins, doesn't have any. 😕One year, hail destroyed the crop. The second year it frosted early, & this year the deer got them. Gee! Such a disappointment. I bought some elsewhere, but couldn't find the variety that I loved, such as, "Flatso", "Baby Boo",  "Warty", "Tandy", & "Cotton Candy", just to name a few. Aren't those names deliciously fun to roll over your tongue??                                              😋                                                       However, the deer have discovered our address too (actually, it was put on the deer hotline I think)  & last year desecrated every pumpkin we had, leaving the 'innards' strewn across our lawn. It was obscene. So, the few real pumpkins we got, we sort of tucked in to places we hope the deer won't molest. They are such fat, jolly 'plumpkins'. It's an experiment. Otherwise, I have purchased a lot of 'faux' pumpkins, which are just as cute (well, almost), but even those I find it hard to resist. This time of year it is the perpetual Pumpkin hunt, real or faux. Ahhh.... So many pumpkins, so little time....😉  

See what I mean??

 Concerning Pumpkins & me... "l'amour toujours"!!!

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Now, is this really going anywhere? No proverbial proverbs? No deep insights? or revelations? no philosophical musings? Well, not really, not this time. I guess what I want to say mostly is, make some fun for yourself. Serve it up in 'Thanksgiving'-like portions. Turn off all fear-induced influences. Jesus does not mean for you to have fear. Or stress. Or depression. He's all about life. He is Life. He wants to give you life & for you to live there. So, accept the many little gifts of life He wants to give you. Even a little (or big!) pumpkin. I know that He was thinking of me when He made pumpkins. I know that He smiled & said on the completion of this particular creation, "Oh boy, Julie's gonna love this!" & I do!!! & for all of you who love pumpkins too,  

"Ode to the Pumpkin"

"Pumpkins here, pumpkins there.

pumpkins, pumpkins, everywhere.

Some for you, lots for me,

I could make a pumpkin sea!

Pumpkins everywhere I look,

I could write a pumpkin book!

Thank you Jesus, for I see

You made the pumpkin just for me!"

See? My love for pumpkins has made me spherical lyrical! (& a bit silly!)

"...& they call it 'Pumpkin Lo-o-o-ve...' 🎜🎝", remember, the hit song by Paul Anka?  ( or was that called 'Puppy Love'?)

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Raintree Perk of the day:

This is my first toilet paper roll pumpkin that I made. I found it on Pinterest so you can make one too. Have fun!

"Happy are the people whose God is the Lord."

(Psalm 144:15b)

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