I’m not a huge fan of trick or treating, there I said it! I love decorating the house up with scary things, choosing pumpkins (from Aldi this year!), dressing up and Halloween food. It’s the knocking on doors that I don’t like. And the cold hands, tired legs, worrying about the sweet overload and wondering if enough “pleases” and “thank yous” have been said.
Its become more of a ‘thing’ over the last 10 years, with more and more houses decorating, with skeletons, bats, pumpkins, lights, cobwebs, smoke machines and much, much more.
We have a little tradition now, we dress up and meet Mr T from work in our costumes and take some photographs before it gets dark. Then we visit Nanna’s house, before walking down the street trick-or-treating until we get home. Its just far enough to go to without overloading with candy or tiring our little legs.
I have to admit that once I am out on the street with the kids I have a brilliant time, it’s always better than I expect. This year the weather was mild, and the atmosphere on the street was one of just pure excitement, you could feel the buzz in the air. Lots of children were shouting Happy Halloween to each other as they passed, and everyone seemed to be obeying the unwritten rule that you only call at houses with pumpkins or decorations outside.
My favourite part of the night was when we returned home, and put our pumpkin outside (the one that had been carved by Mr T at the very last moment) to welcome the tricker or treaters to our house. We said the children could be in charge of opening the door and they made us really proud. They said Happy Halloween to everyone, they commented on costumes they loved and they were really polite and helpful.
Gone are the days where we shut the curtains and hide in the dark hoping that we don’t hear that knock, but really it’s nice to be involved and be part of the community. We moved schools just over a year ago, and the children spotted a few of their old school friends they really enjoyed.
Halloween
What a difference a year makes!
These are our photographs from last year. I can’t believe that Ava is now wearing the costume that Amy wore, and Amy is wearing Lily’s old cat costume. Where did my cute little pumpkin go? She has grown so much!
Bonfire Night
Last year we missed bonfire night when Amy had hurt her elbow, and we told it was broken when we took her to the hospital the following day. On our next visit to the hospital, we were told it was okay (and not broken), but afterwards, the x-ray showed that she had fractured it.
This year we decided to buy tickets to an event and WOW it was amazing. Ava loved the fireworks, she fell asleep on the way there and I thought she might miss them, but she woke up just in time. She loved watching them whilst in the Tula carrier, nice and close to mummy. It also made me feel a hundred times better knowing she was safe and not at any risk of wandering off in the crowds!
We made a huge flask of hot chocolate, squirty cream, and a packet of chocolate finger biscuits to share to warm us up when we returned to the car. Amy loved drinking her hot chocolate with squirty cream!
Time really races by so fast, it’s crazy how much difference a year makes. I am so lucking forward to these next stages of our lives, with Ava and Amy a little older and our adventures a little bigger. At the same time I know I will miss these days when hot chocolates with squirty cream are their favourite treat and fireworks/sparklers the highlight of their night.
