During this time of year, I really think about the fun times we had with my grandparents. I was so blessed to have two sets of amazing grandparents. Both were wanting to do fun things with us and spoil us. I have memories on both sides that I could write about for days, but today I am going to share a time we used to have with my Pap and Gram Liddick. (Floyd and Lois Liddick). My grandparents had nine grandchildren, then two more when my Aunt Stacie married my Uncle Dean, and he had two daughters. So, 11 in all by the early 2000s.

My grandparents had five kids, so Gram was used to big family gatherings. She loved to spoil us grandkids by having parties. Gram loved kids and always wanted to be a teacher. She loved fall, and Pap loved to harvest. He was a small farmer, with a few cows, a horse, and a couple of pesky stray cats. The farm sat up off the hill on Grimesville Road. Pap had his own garden, an ol’ blue Ford tractor, and loved being a small country farmer. In October, every year, they would have their fall pumpkin party. This was one of the best days of the year.

Let me tell you about this fall party.

Gram always put so much thought into this, and every year would do something different or throw surprises in there. She always had pumpkins for us to pick sitting in her yard that she and Pap would go get from a local pumpkin farm. We would walk out like it was a pumpkin patch and pick our pumpkins. Some years we painted them, and some years we cut them.

I remember the one year they surprised us all, and Pap had grown his very own pumpkin patch up on the hill! Oh, it was awesome, and Gram was so proud. Off we skipped to the field to pick out our perfect pumpkin! Pap, well, he would have that trailer loaded up with hay, and off we went for a hayride being pulled by the ol’ blue tractor around the block.

Gram would have us wrapped in blankets if it was chilly. We would come back to a table, just full of delicious foods. There was always a smorgasbord! Donuts, cider, bologna and cheese, and some kind of meal to go along with it. She always made sure her grandbabies were fed well. You never left the farm hungry or went home empty-handed with snacks to go.

There were years where she hung apples off the clotheslines to see who could get the first bite without using our hands and even did bobbing for apples.

Then there was, “Now you have it, now you don’t.” A game where she went and bought a bunch of little toys and goodies for. They sat in the middle of the table. Everyone’s name went in a bowl a few times, and as your name was called, you got to pick what you wanted. Once the table was empty, you could start taking from anyone. (So, you never wanted your name called till last.) Things got real, and even if it was a favorite candy bar or unique toy, we all fought till the end! Oh, we had a ball.

I am so thankful for these memories with my grandparents.

When I had my son Tyler, that was my parents’ first grandson — we didn’t have our second child until five years later. Having one grandson, my momma always bought Ty a pumpkin. Her mom bought ours, and she wanted to carry on the tradition. The first year we just cut it open and put Tyler inside of it. The second year, I started having my mom, stepdad, brother, sister in law, and Pap and Gram Liddick over to watch Ty carve his pumpkin and made soup and fall treats to go with it. Like I said, it was just my little guy, so my mom didn’t do a pumpkin party or anything. But as the years went on, my pumpkin carving party seemed to stick. It became tradition. Now my momma takes all the grandbabies to the pumpkin patch. (We have four this year now with my five-month sweet little niece Leah.) My nieces will come over, and Auntie makes a fallish dinner, plays Halloween music, and we carve pumpkins. This will be the first year my gram won’t be able to here because of where she is staying, and COVID. I always got her coffee in my pumpkin mugs and got a picture each year with her holding it. She always said, “Honey I am so glad someone carried on the tradition of a pumpkin party!” I am so much like my gram. I love to host, love to have parties, but most importantly, I love to make memories and traditions. I can’t wait for our pumpkin party next week and will be sure to drink hot tea out of gram’s pumpkin mug. Gotta keep the traditions alive.

Mini Pumpkin Pies

Ingredients:
• 2 refrigerated ready-to roll pie crusts
• 5 cups flour
• 2 cups Crisco
• 1 egg

Put the egg into 1 cup measuring cup. Fill the rest with lukewarm water. Mix all ingredients together. Makes a delicious flaky pie crust! You can put any extra in the freezer.

Mixture:
• 8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• Pumpkin-shaped cookie cutter
Jack O Lantern Face is optional:
• 1/2 cup chocolate morsels
• vegetable oil
• resealable plastic bags

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Use a cookie cutter to cut 12-15 pumpkin shapes from each pie crust. You will need to roll the dough thinner than it comes out of the box.

Press dough shapes into a mini muffin tray. Just make sure your stems don’t touch each other. Apply egg whites from one egg to the top edges of each pie.

Mix cream cheese, sugar, canned pumpkin, remaining 2 eggs, vanilla and pumpkin pie spice together until thoroughly combined.

Spoon mixture into each pumpkin-shaped pie crust.

Bake for 15-18 minutes.

Remove pies to cool and repeat with a second pie crust. Makes 25-30 pies. Keep refrigerated.

To decorate, melt chocolate in a heat-proof bowl in the microwave on medium. Heat in 30 second intervals, stirring in between until melted. Add a little vegetable oil to make the chocolate more fluid. Transfer to a re-sealable plastic bag and cut the corner off. (Just at the very tip, you don’t want your hole too big so it’s easier to draw the faces on.) Draw faces on pies or drizzle chocolate over them. Whatever you choose. I’m no artist.

NOTE: The cutter I used was 3 3/4 inches wide, but if you don’t have one, not to worry. Just use a round cutter around that size or slightly smaller to cut circle shapes out of the dough. Then make stems with the scraps. Press each stem over the edge and down the side of the dough before filling.