Pumpkins - Decorating, Food, and Baseball???

It might sound strange, but on this Gratituesday, I am grateful for "Pumpkins".  Because fall is my favorite time of year, I like the colors of the season - one of which is orange. Pumpkins help provide lots of fall orange, but they also provide many fun fall recipes that aren't typically enjoyed the rest of the year.  (One of my newly found favorites is Pumpkin Pancakes with Caramel Pecan Sauce.  You can find this recipe at my (and my mom and sister's) recipe blog here.)


Decorating with pumpkins is my favorite thing to do with them, but my second favorite thing to do with them happens on Thanksgiving Day with my husband's side of the family.

(Annual Cousins' Pumpkin Photo - not ALL of the cousins, but many of them!)

We began planting pumpkins 10 years ago and enjoy scattering them all over our yard uses them as decorations, along with hay bales and corn stalks.  Occasionally we carve pumpkins or paint them, but not always.  We prefer to keep them just as they are - until Thanksgiving Day, that is.

(In photo:  Niece DeeAnn)

On Thanksgiving Day, our pumpkins are used in a fun (but kind of strange!) way.  The pumpkin crop serves as one of the highlights of our families' Thanksgiving Day when, after lunch, everyone joins in a game of "Pumpkin Baseball".  Sppppppppllllllllaaaaaatttt!!!!  

(In photo:  Nephew Travis)

I'm grateful for pumpkins because they provide fun family traditions. For more Gratituesday, go to Laura's Heavenly Homemaker's blog.

Thank you, God, for pumpkins.