With Ivy home from Uni, my sister in law and her family visiting, my sister and her family and my eldest daughter and her other half coming over, we made up quite an impressive Hallowe'en party guest list.
I seemed to spend a lot of time cooking but I love that and inspired by my new Lily Vanilli 'Zombie Ate My Cupcake' recipe book, I created some fun spooky themed cakes.
Everybody entered into the spirit of things dressing up as a whole range of creepy characters from traditional vampires, witches, werewolves, and frankenstein's monster to the more off the wall zombie celebrities, sewn together rag doll and mad doctor.
I had won a lovely Hallowe'en Tutu kit from Summerland which I set my girls the challenge of making for my 2 yr old who was flatly refusing to wear any of the fancy dress items I had for her. The tutu turned out beautifully but still was not enough to entice my little one so I ended up wearing it as a rather glamorous bustle. The colours were gorgeous and were a perfect match for my shoes.
I thoroughly enjoy entertaining - making sure everbody is well fed and there are plenty of activities for anyone who might be interested - but the down side of having a house full it is that it can be hard to keep a proper eye on my two young ones. The baby isn't much of a bother. Being only 4months old he stays where I put him and there are usually plenty of volunteers to hold him. The two year old is a slightly different matter.
I was busy in the kitchen when I heard a commotion and realised that a mishap had befallen my rather adventurous little girl. She had been clambering on the leather chairs in my study, slipped off and landed in a heap on her head. The room is carpeted so the landing was not as bad as it could have been in one of my tiled rooms. When I arrived on the scene she was crying in her big sister's arms. I took this as a good sign - at least she wasn't unconscious. I whisked her away from the gathering crowd, into my well lit kitchen to assess any damage. That was when I saw the blood. She must have just caught the edge of the big oak desk in my study as she fell. The wound to her scalp was probably only a 5mm gash but head wounds really know how to bleed. Her very fair hair accentuated the crimson liquid flowing from the hole and dripping down her face.
I had visions of a long wait in casualty and a frightened child subjected to examination and treatment by unfamiliar people but we were spared this outcome. The cut was horrible but really quite small. The bleeding slowed down then stopped really quite quickly. The tears were forgotten with the offer of a lollypop. The party atmosphere re-established itself.
Our day continued with pumpkin carving, veggie food, fireworks, marshmallow toasting and much jollity but it was hard for me to look at all the fake blood used in the fancy dress without being reminded of my precious little girl and what could have been a horrible accident.
The veil between my world of fun, laughter and my family safe and happy and a world I don't even want to acknowledge was certainly thin this day.
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