EVERYDAY ADVENTURES

Pumpkin Palooza

I was unlocking my front door when I spotted a dark object out of the corner of my eye. Someone had placed a new sign on our porch. It was black with only two words written in white, cursive script.

It said, “Hello, pumpkin.” Uh oh, I thought. It has begun.

You see, my family has a problem. We’re obsessed with pumpkins. Every last one of us. Pumpkin decorations. Pumpkin-flavored desserts. And, of course, the actual orange balls full of seeds, goop and wondrous, autumnal goodness.

You see, my family has a problem. We’re obsessed with pumpkins. Every last one of us. Pumpkin decorations. Pumpkin-flavored desserts. And, of course, the actual orange balls full of seeds, goop and wondrous, autumnal goodness.

You know how a full moon causes a werewolf to go crazy and sprout fur? Fall has the same effect on my family. Except we don’t sprout fur. We sprout pumpkins!

Here we were, barely into August, and the first pumpkin-related merchandise had now appeared on my front porch. It was like the firing of a starting pistol. The race was on.

Typically, I’m the first one in the water, but it looked like this year my wife had beaten me to the punch.

Here’s how it usually starts. I’m wandering around the grocery store, and I stumble onto those adorable mini pumpkins in the produce section. They show up earlier than you would expect, when it’s still 100 degrees out and fall is the last thing on your mind. Just looking at them conjures memories of crisp, fall evenings and the promise of sweet relief from the heat.

Before I know what I’m doing, I’ve tossed a handful of tiny gourds into my cart, telling myself it’s for the children. Kids love pumpkins, right?

You know who else loves pumpkins? My wife. So, she grabs some at the farmers market or Walmart (or both!) because it’s time to decorate for fall, she says. See, these aren’t functional pumpkins. You can’t carve them or make pies out of them or anything. They’re for ambience.

When my daughters were little, they would take field trips to the pumpkin patch and contribute to the madness by bringing back pumpkins of their own. However, these school events do not count for our annual family pumpkin patch trip because the family didn’t do it together.

But, of course, it doesn’t end there. When my daughters were little, they would take field trips to the pumpkin patch and contribute to the madness by bringing back pumpkins of their own. However, these school events do not count for our annual family pumpkin patch trip because the family didn’t do it together.

Sure, by this point, we would already have plenty of pumpkins at our house, but the family trip is about making memories. It just so happens that along the way, we pick up four more pumpkins.

To make matters worse, we were driving through the country a few years ago and stumbled onto the mother lode, a self-serve, roadside pumpkin stand.

It was a huge wagon overflowing with piles of pumpkins of every shape and size, and they were dirt cheap. When you see a deal like that, you’re practically wasting money if you don’t buy them. The pumpkin wagon became another annual tradition.

It was a huge wagon overflowing with piles of pumpkins of every shape and size, and they were dirt cheap. When you see a deal like that, you’re practically wasting money if you don’t buy them. The pumpkin wagon became another annual tradition.

Oh, and don’t forget our school’s fall festival. Guess what they do there? Paint pumpkins, and lots of them. Sometimes there are even leftovers that the festival workers try to pawn off on unsuspecting families, so they don’t have to take them home themselves. And who is the first family to accept such an offer?

Ours, of course, because, hey, you can’t pass up free pumpkins, right?

Did I mention the fact that one of my daughters has a birthday in the middle of October? Hmm, what kind of fun kid activity can you do in mid-October, I wonder? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out.

Decorate pumpkins!

This is totally different than the pumpkin painting at school, though, because we use glitter and sequins and other fancy gourd decor to bling out our birthday pumpkins like nobody’s business.

See, I told you. We have a problem. We’re pumpkin hoarders. By the time we make it to Halloween, our house is buried in pumpkins. And we love it!

However, once we hit November, pumpkins are the last thing on our minds. Sure, we may keep a few around for Thanksgiving decorations, but now it’s time to move on to Christmas and our autumn obsession fades away until the next year.

I guess that’s human nature. The things we’re into tend to come and go based on our season in life. That’s one of the many ways we’re different from God.

I guess that’s human nature. The things we’re into tend to come and go based on our season in life. That’s one of the many ways we’re different from God.

The Bible says that God has an obsession too, but it’s not limited to one season. God’s obsession is people. In Luke 15, Jesus told three stories about something that was lost: a coin, a sheep and a son. However, these weren’t just stories about lost items, animals and children. They were stories about the people they mattered to who were desperate to recover them and bring them home.

Jesus’ point was that that’s how God feels about us. He has no desire to fill his yard with pumpkins, but He does want to fill His house with people, all kinds of people. It doesn’t matter where we’ve been or what we’ve done, God has a place for us with Him. So, on those days when you feel lonely or left out or lost, remember that there is a God who loves you, who’s pursuing you and wants you to know you never have to walk through this life alone.how old you are. •

Photo credit:  Debbie Galbraith / shutterstock.com