Seriously.
Last year my pumpkin pie was a little anemic looking, so this year instead of all-pumpkin, I made the puree with half golden-hubbard squash. This proved to be a Very Good Idea. The hubbard gave the pie a darker, richer flavor and color, one that tastes more like pumpkin than the actual pumpkins did. I also used dark brown sugar and fresh-ground nutmeg, though I forgot gingerroot at the store and had to substitute ground ginger. This also proved to be a Very Good Thing.
The other thing I did differently this year was to make it with a graham cracker crust instead of my usual flour-n-shortening crust. This easter, I made a lemon meringue pie with a storebought graham cracker crust, and it was awful. It tasted of chemicals, and didn't hold together well when serving. For some unknown reason I always thought graham cracker crusts were difficult to make, but in reality, not so much. It took only a little more time than unboxing the storebought crust, and tasted a hundred times better.
Add to all this a dollop of hand-whipped heavy cream, and that was some mighty fine pie. If you want to replicate it, just follow the recipe in The Joy of Cooking, use heavy cream and double the amount of pie spices.
MMMmmm pie.
If you're using fresh pumpkins, adding the squash gets you closer to what canned pumpkin. Canned pumpkin is actually a squash.
See: http://www.slashfood.com/2005/10/24/canned-pumpkin-is-it-really-pumpkin/
If you're using fresh, the small sugar or pie pumpkins are among the best.
Piper and I are planning on skipping the crust and just making a custard this week.