waiting for the Great Pumpkin

I hollowed out and carved my very first pumpkin today, at the ripe old age of 29! (It's the very simple one on the right that mixes up the devil and the vampire — because if you can't mix up your tropes on Hallowe'en, when can you?) Jack o'Lanterns and Hallowe'en were never a big part of my childhood, so until now I never had any reason to develop my essential squash-decorating skills.

Now our pumpkins are lit and we are awaiting the invading hordes. (Most of the children in our neighbourhood are young, so I am anticipating sooner rather than later.) We are trying to figure out the etiquette: do we leave the porch light on and the Jack o'Lanterns? Or Jack o'Lanterns only?

I will report back later on whether we bought enough candy or not:


(There are a lot of kids in our neighbourhood. Also, the Pringles and the extra box of chocolate don't count — the Pringles were for me and the extra box for a friend.)