Nothing says "I love you" like a pumpkin. What? Why are you looking at me that way? Surely you've experienced this...

I'm not talking about the pumpkin as an aphrodisiac, though I could be.

Feng Shui followers use calabash to make talismans. It harmonizes relations between parents and children, rehabilitates lost passion in married people and is considered as a protective and medicinal remedy.

I'm talking about the pumpkin as a gift of love...

Once upon a time, ok fine it was 2001 and I was living in South Caroline while TW was living in Florida. She asked if I was going to carve pumpkins and I said that I wasn't. The big kids weren't interested and it seemed silly for me to carve one for myself... flash forward a few days and the post man arrived carrying a very very heavy box. I opened it to find... a carved pumpkin... a spider carved just for me.

Flash forward to 2002, our first Halloween together in Florida and TW carved another pumpkin, just for me... this one with a flamingo on it.

Awe... and this year, she carved another pumpkin just for me... this one has the state of Illinois with a flamingo on it.

Sweet, right? She loves me! The pumpkins prove it.

Seriously. If someone gives you a pumpkin, it means they like you - LIKE YOU. Don't take my word for it, sassymonkey will tell you the same thing.

...he brought me what may have perhaps been the most original “date gift” I’ve ever gotten - he brought me a pumpkin because it was close to Halloween and thought I might want to make a jack-o-lantern (or pie).

There are relationship advice blogs that recommend pumpkin carving as a date night activity.

And while I may not be a fan of the patriarchal construct of marriage, even I have to admit that pumpkins and marriage proposals go together.

Jake told me we had to go to his house to show his mission companion a movie they made real fast and I really didn't see why we had to go all the way to his house for this but I went along with it. In the car he told me of this "Fall display" his mom made and put up in the backyard I need to see. When we turned in his neighborhood Jake was flying over the speed bumps and he was really excited, I thought "Wow he really can't wait for this movie" we got to his house and he took me straight downstairs to see this fall display and wait for his friend. We went outside and when I turned the corner all in a row were pumpkins carved "Will You Marry Me?" With a cute scarecrow on his knee with a ring pop.

See... pumpkins ARE romantic! I told ya so.

~~Denise
Flamingo House Happenings