Jack-o-lanterns are serious business in my house. Yet, I knew it was going to be hard to top last year's excellent Jack McCoy-o-Lantern. A political theme was possible, but it's been done, and I'm hardly the kind to print a template from a website.

So, we settled on a different theme: Fiscal Fright! Because honestly, what's more terrifying than the present financial crisis? We have four pumpkins, each of which will be turned into a thematic jack-o-lantern over the coming week.

Here's the first one, entitled Mortgage Meltdown:

Double, double, toil and trouble indeed.