Ah, October.
How I love thee.
October may be my favorite month of the year because it is the gateway month to the Holiday season.
It's funny how the first brisk day of Fall that typically comes about in October, arouses this primal urge in us humans to, without hesitation, anxiously exhume our thick fluffy socks from the depths of our pajama drawer, to light every Pumpkin Spice scented candle we own, and of course, to make a pot of chili big enough to feed the entire National Guard.
It's in our blood as Americans.
Another Fall tradition that entices most of us, is the desire to decorate pumpkins. Naturally, people tend to begin this tradition of painting, carving, bedazzling, whatever, on or around the first of October. We all strive to be the first house on our block with a fully stocked arsenal of Halloween themed pumpkins and then we spend the next 31 days trying to keep them all fresh and looking good for the big day....
...I haven't carved or decorated a pumpkin in years. I'm sad to say it, but until I had children, it was never high on my list. I always wanted to, but something would distract me, like a good nap or happy hour, and before I knew it, it was a week before the big day and I figured at that point the window of opportunity had passed.
There was one October however, when I did decorate a pumpkin, and it consumed my life for 3 weeks straight...
Sit back and relax, grab some popcorn or a bag of prematurely purchased Halloween Candy, and I'll share with you the tale of...
Wilson the Pumpkin
So one day, about, mmm, 6 or 7 years ago, before I was married or had children and had a considerable amount of free time on my hands, I was wandering around Menards. At this point I can't remember what on earth I was shopping for, but since I was at Menards, I can only assume it was probably either paint or tampons. I can't remember...Anyways, I was getting ready to leave and as I shambled up to the front of the store, I couldn't help but notice a gigantic Hershey's candy display placed right in the center of the aisle. I wasn't in the market for candy, but as it took up about 11 feet of the 12 foot wide aisle, I couldn't help but get close enough to the mountain of chocolate to notice a small flyer pinned in the center of the display that read something like, "Hershey's Candy: Decorate a Pumpkin Contest", or something like that. I grabbed one of the flyers and read more. It said that, basically, the rules were that you had to get a pumpkin and decorate it in a Halloween theme using nothing but Hershey's candy. There would be three age groups... Babies, Bored Teenagers, and Loser Adults. Each age group had three prizes, Grand prize of $10,000, 2nd prize of $2,500 and 3rd prize of who cares.
I love a good competition that doesn't require physical exertion or an entry fee, so this was right up my alley. The next morning I woke with the Rocky theme song playing in my head, and I drove myself to the grocery store to buy a pumpkin and about $50 worth of Hershey's candy. When I got home, I immediately had a creative mental block, so I ate half the candy, experienced an extreme sugar high, followed by an even more extreme sugar crash, and I awoke 4 hours later with no recollection of how I got there or why I had candy wrappers stuck in my hair.
So after a few days of sitting and staring at the pumpkin went by, any ideas I had come up with seemed too dull or unexciting. Then one day I decided to stop trying to think of some crazy inventive idea, but rather just think of a simple Halloween theme, but to make sure I did it better than anyone else. So I figured a scarecrow sounded good. The colors were right for Halloween, and scarecrows usually have hats, so I thought that would make for a good 3D element to my pumpkin.
Now, the only rule was that you could have inedible elements to aid in the construction of your pumpkin design, but the edible decorations had to be made from Hershey's Candy. So I painted his face white. I made him a hat made from mesh and paper mache' and covered it in Reeses Pieces to give it a woven look. That took forever. The glue kept melting away the candy coating and my fingers were getting so sticky that the ones that didn't melt kept sticking to me. But finally, the damn thing was done. Then I figured the hat needed some leaves. So I figured I'd get really fancy and I would get a couple leaf shaped cookie cutters, set them in a skillet and melt jolly ranchers over low heat inside the cutters so that they formed to the leaf shape....
...miserable failure. Those pans couldn't be saved, and had to be put down....
I reworked my Jolly Rancher approach and melted them first then quickly pressed them into greased cutters laying on greased foil. This worked much better, and after 6 hours and a few pretty serious 3rd degree sugar burns, I had three leaves.
Next I chewed up some Bubblicious, or whatever brand of gum belongs to Hersheys, and I stretched it out, poked some holes in it, and Voila! I had a cob web stretching across the Reese's Pieces hat.
Then I figured the web needed a spider, so I made that little guy out of black twizzlers. Easy Peasy.
Then he needed a face. So I made some eyes out of Reese Peanut Butter cup wrappers, blue Jolly Ranchers, and some other little candy that I can't remember now.
Next, I made him some patchwork cheeks from melted chocolate and the Pull n' Peel Twizzlers. Those were pretty handy, let me tell ya'. The Pull n' Peels also did double duty as Mr. Scarecrows hair peaking out from under his hat, and as straw sticking out the top of his hat. Impressive, I know...
...I may, or may not, have had many conversations with this pumpkin friend of mine during this time, kind of like Tom Hanks and the volleyball in Cast Away...
...I understand now, because after all, I too was stranded on an island...
...it may have been a kitchen island, but still. It counts...
His nose was brown like the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz, and that was made from Chocolate Twizzlers. Nothing too crazy there.
His smile, also Twizzlers, and his tongue, more Bubble Gum.
His neck frill was made of Kit Kat bars and more candy wrappers.
And then I was done....
...did I mention this Candy Coated Creation took me three weeks to finish? It was very time consuming, and I'm pretty sure I gained 10 pounds in the process. It is not safe to have bags and bags of candy lying around when you are trying to brainstorm.
Anyways, I was finally done. I stared at my work, seriously considered smashing it out in the street, but luckily I came to my senses, I snapped a few pictures and nervously submitted my work to Hershey's.
No going back now.
A month or two went by and I didn't hear anything. I figured a winner had been chosen and my pumpkin, which still sat on my kitchen counter by the way, just hadn't been up to par.
Then one day, I opened the door and a small package fell down from behind the screen door...
...my heart fluttered...
I took the package to the kitchen and sat down beside Wilson the Pumpkin. I was scared to open it. I took a deep breath, gave Wilson the look that Louise gives Thelma before they drive off the cliff, and I opened the package...
"Congratulations! Your entry has been chosen as our $10,000 Grand Prize winner in this years Hershey's Decorate a Pumpkin Contest!"
I re-read the letter about 27 times, set it down carefully, turned to Wilson and smiled.
We did it buddy.
It was a good moment in my life and one my grandchildren are sure to become sick of one day.
Wilson sat on my counter for another couple weeks after receiving the letter, but sadly, as all pumpkins do, he began to get a little soft and smell kinda funny....
...it was time to say goodbye...
I'm not gonna lie, it was hard throwing him away. It was sort of like a burying a pet...
...or a pumpkin that just paid off your car...
Either way, it was sad to see him go.
So to anyone out there thinking about entering a contest, go for it.
Sure, you may eat an unhealthy amount of junk food, begin exclusively wearing elastic waistband pants and have countless conversations with inanimate objects, but the obesity and derangement will be short lived, and it could totally pay off in the end...
...or you could be committed... it could go either way really...
So without further delay, I'd like to dedicate this one to Wilson...
Take it Sarah...
In Memory of Wilson the Pumpkin
October 1st 2006- November 14th 2006
.jpg)
Happy October everyone!
:) Ashley
Another Fall tradition that entices most of us, is the desire to decorate pumpkins. Naturally, people tend to begin this tradition of painting, carving, bedazzling, whatever, on or around the first of October. We all strive to be the first house on our block with a fully stocked arsenal of Halloween themed pumpkins and then we spend the next 31 days trying to keep them all fresh and looking good for the big day....
...I haven't carved or decorated a pumpkin in years. I'm sad to say it, but until I had children, it was never high on my list. I always wanted to, but something would distract me, like a good nap or happy hour, and before I knew it, it was a week before the big day and I figured at that point the window of opportunity had passed.
There was one October however, when I did decorate a pumpkin, and it consumed my life for 3 weeks straight...
Sit back and relax, grab some popcorn or a bag of prematurely purchased Halloween Candy, and I'll share with you the tale of...
Wilson the Pumpkin
So one day, about, mmm, 6 or 7 years ago, before I was married or had children and had a considerable amount of free time on my hands, I was wandering around Menards. At this point I can't remember what on earth I was shopping for, but since I was at Menards, I can only assume it was probably either paint or tampons. I can't remember...Anyways, I was getting ready to leave and as I shambled up to the front of the store, I couldn't help but notice a gigantic Hershey's candy display placed right in the center of the aisle. I wasn't in the market for candy, but as it took up about 11 feet of the 12 foot wide aisle, I couldn't help but get close enough to the mountain of chocolate to notice a small flyer pinned in the center of the display that read something like, "Hershey's Candy: Decorate a Pumpkin Contest", or something like that. I grabbed one of the flyers and read more. It said that, basically, the rules were that you had to get a pumpkin and decorate it in a Halloween theme using nothing but Hershey's candy. There would be three age groups... Babies, Bored Teenagers, and Loser Adults. Each age group had three prizes, Grand prize of $10,000, 2nd prize of $2,500 and 3rd prize of who cares.
I love a good competition that doesn't require physical exertion or an entry fee, so this was right up my alley. The next morning I woke with the Rocky theme song playing in my head, and I drove myself to the grocery store to buy a pumpkin and about $50 worth of Hershey's candy. When I got home, I immediately had a creative mental block, so I ate half the candy, experienced an extreme sugar high, followed by an even more extreme sugar crash, and I awoke 4 hours later with no recollection of how I got there or why I had candy wrappers stuck in my hair.
So after a few days of sitting and staring at the pumpkin went by, any ideas I had come up with seemed too dull or unexciting. Then one day I decided to stop trying to think of some crazy inventive idea, but rather just think of a simple Halloween theme, but to make sure I did it better than anyone else. So I figured a scarecrow sounded good. The colors were right for Halloween, and scarecrows usually have hats, so I thought that would make for a good 3D element to my pumpkin.
Now, the only rule was that you could have inedible elements to aid in the construction of your pumpkin design, but the edible decorations had to be made from Hershey's Candy. So I painted his face white. I made him a hat made from mesh and paper mache' and covered it in Reeses Pieces to give it a woven look. That took forever. The glue kept melting away the candy coating and my fingers were getting so sticky that the ones that didn't melt kept sticking to me. But finally, the damn thing was done. Then I figured the hat needed some leaves. So I figured I'd get really fancy and I would get a couple leaf shaped cookie cutters, set them in a skillet and melt jolly ranchers over low heat inside the cutters so that they formed to the leaf shape....
...miserable failure. Those pans couldn't be saved, and had to be put down....
I reworked my Jolly Rancher approach and melted them first then quickly pressed them into greased cutters laying on greased foil. This worked much better, and after 6 hours and a few pretty serious 3rd degree sugar burns, I had three leaves.
Next I chewed up some Bubblicious, or whatever brand of gum belongs to Hersheys, and I stretched it out, poked some holes in it, and Voila! I had a cob web stretching across the Reese's Pieces hat.
Then I figured the web needed a spider, so I made that little guy out of black twizzlers. Easy Peasy.
Then he needed a face. So I made some eyes out of Reese Peanut Butter cup wrappers, blue Jolly Ranchers, and some other little candy that I can't remember now.
Next, I made him some patchwork cheeks from melted chocolate and the Pull n' Peel Twizzlers. Those were pretty handy, let me tell ya'. The Pull n' Peels also did double duty as Mr. Scarecrows hair peaking out from under his hat, and as straw sticking out the top of his hat. Impressive, I know...
...I may, or may not, have had many conversations with this pumpkin friend of mine during this time, kind of like Tom Hanks and the volleyball in Cast Away...
...I understand now, because after all, I too was stranded on an island...
...it may have been a kitchen island, but still. It counts...
His nose was brown like the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz, and that was made from Chocolate Twizzlers. Nothing too crazy there.
His smile, also Twizzlers, and his tongue, more Bubble Gum.
His neck frill was made of Kit Kat bars and more candy wrappers.
And then I was done....
...did I mention this Candy Coated Creation took me three weeks to finish? It was very time consuming, and I'm pretty sure I gained 10 pounds in the process. It is not safe to have bags and bags of candy lying around when you are trying to brainstorm.
Anyways, I was finally done. I stared at my work, seriously considered smashing it out in the street, but luckily I came to my senses, I snapped a few pictures and nervously submitted my work to Hershey's.
No going back now.
A month or two went by and I didn't hear anything. I figured a winner had been chosen and my pumpkin, which still sat on my kitchen counter by the way, just hadn't been up to par.
Then one day, I opened the door and a small package fell down from behind the screen door...
...my heart fluttered...
I took the package to the kitchen and sat down beside Wilson the Pumpkin. I was scared to open it. I took a deep breath, gave Wilson the look that Louise gives Thelma before they drive off the cliff, and I opened the package...
"Congratulations! Your entry has been chosen as our $10,000 Grand Prize winner in this years Hershey's Decorate a Pumpkin Contest!"
I re-read the letter about 27 times, set it down carefully, turned to Wilson and smiled.
We did it buddy.
It was a good moment in my life and one my grandchildren are sure to become sick of one day.
Wilson sat on my counter for another couple weeks after receiving the letter, but sadly, as all pumpkins do, he began to get a little soft and smell kinda funny....
...it was time to say goodbye...
I'm not gonna lie, it was hard throwing him away. It was sort of like a burying a pet...
...or a pumpkin that just paid off your car...
Either way, it was sad to see him go.
So to anyone out there thinking about entering a contest, go for it.
Sure, you may eat an unhealthy amount of junk food, begin exclusively wearing elastic waistband pants and have countless conversations with inanimate objects, but the obesity and derangement will be short lived, and it could totally pay off in the end...
...or you could be committed... it could go either way really...
So without further delay, I'd like to dedicate this one to Wilson...
Take it Sarah...
In Memory of Wilson the Pumpkin
October 1st 2006- November 14th 2006
.jpg)
Happy October everyone!
:) Ashley
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