I get a little excited about holidays. I think I owe it partially to my mom who instilled a great love for tradition and celebration in all of us, but I also think its because holidays mean time with family and delicious food and relaxation (at least in theory...I'm realizing that there is less and less relaxation in my adult-woman holiday life...ahem...I'm also not anticipating this getting any better with a little one on the way...). I also find the winter holidays to be especially magical with the cold weather appearing, the possibility of snow, and candles and lights galore. Nothing says cozy quite like the holiday season in the upper midwest!

And so, with the start of this holiday season just days away, I've found myself more than a little a excited. In spite of a nasty head cold that hit me on Saturday, our house is spotlessly cleaned and the Thanksgiving decorations and preparations are collecting in various areas of the kitchen and dining room. Candles are burning and filling the house with the smells of the holiday. And then there are things made from pumpkin. We can't forget the pumpkin.

This year I bought two pie pumpkins at our local garden shop. They've been sitting in the kitchen since before Halloween and every weekend I've had plans to bake them and get them ready to be turned into something heavenly. This past weekend was it! And my goodness, did I underestimate the amount of pumpkin puree that those two things would produce! I ended up with about 8 cups of cooked pumpkin! So, the week started off with a batch of pumpkin muffins and will continue with two pies for Thanksgiving and hopefully a batch of pumpkin pancakes come Saturday (I'm thinking of giving this recipe a try)! Hooray for pumpkin!

How about you?? What are your favorite things to do with pumpkin at this time of year??