Happy Hallowe'en

My little ones are tucked up asleep in their beds, Ivy has returned to Uni after her Hallowe'en weekend visit and my teenage girls have retired to their rooms to do whatever it is they spend so many hours in their rooms doing.

The candles that have been casting their eerie light over our proceedings this evening are all but burnt out.

It is my moment to reflect.

It has been a hectic but satisfying Hallowe'en.

My three year old had her weekly dance class this afternoon. The little dancers were allowed to forget the strict dress code for one day and wear their Hallowe'en outfits if they wished. My Addy was not at all convinced by this having only just become the proud owner of pink leotard, tutu, tights and crossover.

I managed to persuade her to wear part of a witches costume - a purple and black tutu - in place of her pink regulation ballet skirt. She then surprised me by insisting on having "green eyes".

I wondered if she had been inspired by the eye make up worn by Jason Donovan on this weekend's Spooktacular Strictly. I am not very adventurous with my make up palette and knew that I had no green eye shadow so I got out the face paints and had visions of painting delicate pumpkin tendrils from the outside edge of her eyelids, weaving organically across her brow. She protested saying quite adamantly that she wanted green eyes. I had no idea what she meant until she marched off to the dressing up box and came back with this glow in the dark alien mask, presented it to me as if I was an idiot and said "See - green eyes".


(It may not be obvious from the photograph but the eye portion is made from green plastic and when you wear the mask, the world has a decidedly green tint)

By now, we were actually looking like we might be late for the start of the class, and I remembered that the car needed filling up with fuel so I didn't argue.

We were only a tiny bit late. Addy joined her class.

During the sessions, most mums wait in the kitchen area. It is just possible, if you bend down and squint, to see through a tiny gap at the bottom of the interconnecting serving hatch shutter into the dance hall. I couldn't resist taking a peek.

It was a delight to see the tiny tots prancing daintily in their lacy, sparkly witch costumes.... and my Addy clomping enthusiastically behind in her oversized glow in the dark alien mask! Full marks to her for individuality and eagerness.

Back home, we added a few finishing touches to our Hallowe'en decorations with some half price bargains I picked up earlier and we all sat down together to a gothic banquet of veggie sausage, egg, chips, beans and ketchup (Addy's choice!)

It is so important to me that my children grow up with great memories of their childhood and I hope that Hallowe'en at our house will rank highly amongst them.

My bowl of treats prepared for any trick or treaters that came calling remains untouched. I guess the damp weather put them off and they settled for buying their own treats from the selection of half price merchandise that the retailers are so keen to be rid of to make way for Xmas stock.

Hold onto your witches hats - Christmas is definitely coming!