Mer and I have one holiday tradition that we have done every year of our marriage (and actually a few years before that) – we carve pumpkins every Halloween. This year we were more on top of things than we have been of late and actually carved them yesterday (Monday), a full four days before Halloween. This makes the 16th set of marriage pumpkins, and at least two years prior to that.

Since we had been there this summer, I tried to carve Italy. It came out a bit rounded and plump, so I figured that was Italy in the world of the Pillsbury Ragazzo di Pane. Mer got clever and carved a patch, for a “pumpkin patch.” She is so witty, and it actually worked pretty well.