Many of you older Treepers remember praying for my grandson Conner five years ago last fall when he was a baby undergoing open heart surgery at Vanderbilt. The two holes in Conner’s heart were easily repaired and he is now a healthy little boy.

He and his older brother are autistic. Last year I posted The Christmas Pumpkin, the story of my first adventure making a special gift for Conner. Copying part from that post last year, here is the story behind the Christmas Pumpkin. Incidentally, if I remember correctly, the original story was my most popular post ever according to the WordPress stats.

Conner’s great love is pumpkins, all year round. He loves every single pumpkin, big or small, real or artificial. A few months ago he told me that all pumpkins are his, every one of them. So, if you had a pumpkin on your porch or decorating your Thanksgiving table, say a prayer of gratitude that Conner let you borrow it!

Fall has always been my favorite time of the year, and the last two years I’ve had a new reason to love it. Last fall Conner had only been in school for a few months, and he was mostly still non verbal then. His inability to communicate, along with the many issues associated with autism, sensory issues especially, made life very difficult for him, and it was not usually a good idea to take him out in public.

However, he had just found pumpkins, and his enthusiasm captivated me, so I bought him a pumpkin, a real one, at the grocery store. His love for it, and desire to take it everywhere he went, and even to sleep with it, made me think he needed an artificial one to play with.

So, I took him to Hobby Lobby because I wanted him to experience the wall of pumpkins in the front of the store, and the aisles full of all sizes and color pumpkins. He wasn’t too sure about the store at first, and I still remember his little thin (at that time he wasn’t eating well) body trembling.

Oh, but he loved those pumpkins and it isn’t an exaggeration at all to tell you that he carefully looked at each offering before he chose his pumpkin. There were a few aisles of Christmas decor, of course, so I thought maybe he would be interested in a Santa or a tree, and I just wanted to get him things he would love.

He seemed to think that he had to choose one thing, even though I kept reassuring him that he could pick another present or two. He adamantly shook his head and refused my every suggestion, but finally reached his little hand toward an old pickup truck with two blocks in the bed that had numbers on each surface. It was a little Advent calendar.
He snatched his hand back before he touched it, but I bought it for him anyhow. It’s now a part of his family’s Christmas decor, but it never got to pumpkin status in his love.
This year when I took him to Hobby Lobby he was a different little boy. In his second year of attending a wonderful school where he has learned so many things, including language skills, he’s able to express himself like any other excited four year old, and many things have changed for Conner.

He wanted each and every pumpkin, and tried to put dozens in the buggy. As I said, he considered all of them his, and just wanted to bring them home.

After a lot of haggling and laughter, I finally negotiated the purchase of three pumpkins. I told him he could have any three small medium and large pumpkins he wanted. He put a lot of thought and exploration into his choices, and in the end, it was quite clear that each one was chosen to meet mostly sensory pleasures.

The largest was a regular orange pumpkin that looked very real. The next was a velvet pumpkin, brightly colored and so soft and wonderful to stroke. The little one was a different color, and one he could easily carry around with him. He insisted on taking them all with him to therapy appointments, and he would arrange them in display on the tables or shelves.

A few weeks ago he began to ask for a Christmas pumpkin. Of course, pumpkins are long gone from roadside stands and even Hobby Lobby. And who has ever heard of Christmas pumpkins? Conner is nothing if not persistent, and he kept asking.

So, I ordered a white pumpkin and went searching for some Christmas decorations I could stick on it. This is what I came up with, and it won’t win any art awards or set any decor trends. But the bright colors and flashy stars are right down his alley, and his smile was absolutely ample reward for the little bit of trouble it was to make what is our first Christmas pumpkin.

Unfortunately, the pumpkin did not survive. So this year I upgraded to a metal pumpkin. I found little battery lights and wound them through the metal ribs, and finished it off with bright red bows. It’s just as absolutely ugly as last year’s pumpkin, and he loves it just as much. He called it his pumpkin lamp and hugged it close when I gave it to him.

This is a picture of him in the pumpkin hat I made him for Halloween.

Thank you God, for giving us Conner, and thank you to all Treepers out there who fell for Conner as they prayed for him during surgery, and who have continued to ask for updates and Conner news.

I hope you have your own special gift story to share with us.  Merry Christmas!