“What do you want your pumpkin to look like this year, Maia?” I ask my three year old, brandishing a fillet knife after we finish hollowing her personal squash.

“I want it to have a mad face with big, ANGRY, EYEBROWS!!!” She jumps up and down, scowling, as she says this, and gives me her best angry face, as if wanting to model for my masterpiece.

Angry? Yes, I can understand that; if I had just been scalped & disemboweled, I might be a little put-out, myself.

“OK, shall we give it triangle eyes?”

“No! Circle eyes!”

“Are you sure? I think they should be triangles.”

“NO! Circles! CIRCLES! CIRCLESCIRCLESCIRCLES! Round ones.”

Damn! Triangles are sharp, angular & piercing. Circles are friendly & open. Nonetheless, it’s her pumpkin and I told her that she could choose.

So I cut out two circles—round ones—from the front of the pumpkin.

“What about the nose? Do you want a triangle nose?” OK, I admit it, I’m partial to triangles, they’re easy to cut.

“No!” She stops & considers her options…  “Oval.”

“Oval?” I can’t believe this, my angry work of art is beginning to look like a Sesame Street muppet, and not Oscar the Grouch. I cut out the oval and remind myself to be thankful that she hasn’t asked for an octagon.

“And what of the mouth?” …I almost say, but decide instead to simply cut out a big frown.  It’s cheating, I know, but I can’t imagine working with whatever option she’s likely to give me. Then I cut out two arcing “angry eyebrows” and light a candle inside and have her stand back and revere the completed effect.

“OHHH!!! Thank you, Daddy!” she yells, “Now make him happy!”