On Friday, October 24, 2008, the SOE Community Team gathered together to participate in one of the most famous traditions of the season - Pumpkin Carving!

The first step was to acquire the pumpkins. Since most were busy, Grimwell used his lunch hour to get a few pumpkins from the pumpkin patch for the folks here in San Diego! Thanks Grimwell! The Austin crew acquired their own pumpkins because pumpkins don't ship very well!

The second step was obtaining the proper tools. Ashlanne had a few on them handy from a few years ago when we carved here at the office. When gutting and carving a pumpkin, we made sure we used the proper tools. The tools that come with the packages generally work the best because they are designed to help you not over cut the pumpkin. You can also use smaller knives.

Before gutting the pumpkin, we had to cut the tops off. The top of the pumpkin should be cut on an angle so when you replace it, it doesn't fall through. Wow, that's really fancy Momochi!

Next came the gutting of the pumpkins. This part got a little messy. While some like Grimwell, Kiara and Pex took the clean approach, others like Zatozia and Amnerys let the kid in them take over!

When carving pumpkins, you don't want to just start hacking away at it. You'll first want to draft up a design.

Ummm… Hey Zatozia… you're supposed to carve the pumpkin, not torture it!

Okay. Now where were we? Ah yes... pumpkin patterns! Everyone decided on a design for their pumpkins. Some used patterns from the kits, while others used their own designs. In honor of the launch of EverQuest Seeds of Destruction expansion, Zatozia designed the Pumpkin Seeds of Destruction!

After patterns were designed, we taped them to the pumpkin and traced it by poking little holes through them. The pumpkin carving kits have tracer and poker tools. Chop! Stab! Carve! Here we are actually cutting out the pattern. Soffrina, Eovania and Raijinn are being extra careful cutting out the patterns.

After the carving session was completed, everyone was happy to see their pumpkins all lit up!