Why I love Halloween...

I never used to like it. Utter tosh, an American import, another way of getting us to part with hard earned cash... If there was a Halloween dissenter term for Halloween similar to 'Humbug' for Christmas, that could be used for me. But then I moved into the street where I was to bring up my children for the last 17 years and everything changed...

Picture from hivingout.blogspot.com

For some strange reason our neighbourhood does Halloween in a big way. Okay so it can't compare with the average American suburb in terms of spiderwebs, tombstones, carved pumpkins and trick or treating but we don't do too badly. Most houses sport a lit pumpkin welcoming the little one's who all go to town with their fancy dress outfits. I spend between £15 - £20 on sweets to give away and I still run out - our few streets have a reputation and last year I estimated around 200 children between the ages of 2 and 16 came to the door. When you consider we are a terraced house with a narrow Edwardian pathway, this causes traffic jams and at one point we even had a queue. And this is why I love it so much... I've never been tricked (don't get any ideas, now) and the tiniest children dressed up as witches, goblins and elves does bring a tear to the eye. My girls have long gotten over the whole excitement of Halloween and usually disappear - so I am often alone behind the closed door sporting large black wings to welcome the hordes... and I can still imagine myself doing this when I no longer need the spooky make-up but can scare them all to death by appearing make-up free!

Roll on Monday night....