A Halloween...of sorts...

Well, our Halloween this year was a strange one.

I won't say it was a non-event, but it went from being an entrenched tradition to... well, let's say a scattering and a smattering.

Every year, for as long as we've had children, we've spent Halloween at my parents. And they have the house brilliantly spooky, and the kids find money in their dinner, and a ring in the brack, and they get to knock on the same doors as I did with my brothers and sister and our friends.

But this year one was invited to a party, another to a sleepover which went pear-shaped and didn't happen.

And the oldest decided he wasn't going on his own, so went to a friend's.

So I was left with a disappointed (read devastated) six-year-old, and a two-year-old who hadn't a clue what was going on but happily went in whatever direction he was pointed in, like a little wind-up bunny!

And between everything I mentioned in the last post, and more, we had left it until the last minute to decorate the house, only to find our decorations had been decimated by a wee mouse sometime in the last year... sigh.

I think that's called the icing on the cake?

So, for the first time ever we had no colcannon, no barm brack, no decorations, and no pumpkin! And for anyone that knows me, that is a sorry day indeed.

But you know, we have friends. We have great friends, who said 'come on, come to us'. And we did (which is where these photos were taken) and for the first time ever we went trick or treating in our village.

And they got to knock on doors, and they got bags of goodies, and they all had a great time and that's what matters.

And today they all said 'Next year we are definitely going to Mamo and Grandad's...'