Halloween

Ahh, the Lovely Melanie, what a gal!  Not least because she loves making a fantastic themed day for the girls and she’s bloody good at it, too.  I might be the parent who throws them up in the air and makes them laugh but she’s the one who gives them whole days to remember, the kind of thing they’ll look back on when they’re grown and think, “Yeah, that was a proper Halloween!”

When the girls came downstairs this morning they were met by inflatable jack o’lanterns, flashing skulls, glowing ghosts, bats stuck to the window and skeletons on the stairs.  There was spooky toast for breakfast and scary face pizzas for tea followed by spider cakes and ghost biscuits.  The girls were at a fever pitch of excitement most of the day with the anticipation of trick or treating tonight.  They were also very well-behaved – admirably so considering how excited they were. 🙂

This morning we slobbed around the house doing not very much at all; we spoke to my brother, Rich (and his wife, Carla, whose birthday it was today – happy birthday, Carla!) on Skype, and laughed about how Rich looked like the classic stereotype of a new dad: hair sticking up, unshaven, pale and tired.  They’d just had their first night of disturbed sleep with my new niece, Isabel.  I well remember the horrors of nights spent trying to sooth a crying baby so we sympathised with them both.

But we also couldn’t help chuckling, too. 😛

Millie and I watched The Return Of The Jedi this afternoon until our friends Nik and Liz popped round.  Liz was “forced” to do some colouring-in, while Nik was equally “forced” to throw them about the place and try not to wince as they both shrieked with delight.

And then it was time to go trick or treating.

Millie was a witch –  a good witch, as she was at pains to point out – Amber was either a pumpkin or a traffic cone, it was hard to tell which, and I was generously supplied with some green greasepaint to slather over my head.  We were out for about 20 minutes and both girls amassed a respectable collection of sweets.

Millie insisted on trying to ride her besom rather than carry it and Amber was a bit reticent to start with but soon got into the spirit of things, shouting “Trick Or Treat!” before unsuspecting neighbours had a chance to open their front doors!  It took her a few tries to get the hang of it however:

ME: And we say “Trick or treat” when they open the door.

AMBER: I want some lollies.

ME: No, no, “Trick or treat”.

AMBER: You got lollies?

ME: No, “Trick or treat”.

AMBER: I want some lollies.

ME: Sigh.  You’re not listening, Amby. It’s “trick or treat”.

AMBER: Where am the lollies?  You got lollies?  I have lollies.

ME: Sigh.

Not everyone opened their doors to us (some people were blatantly in and ignoring us) which was fine – I felt a bit embarrassed anyway; the last thing I wanted was irate folks lambasting us for interrupting their viewing of The Antiques Roadshow.  Hopefully Millie and Amber will appreciate this heroic display of parental love in years to come.

And now, having put the girls to bed and removed all the green make-up, I’m gearing up for work tomorrow.  It’s the first day of the full-blown school run since I waved a friendly goodbye to the job centre so let’s hope things go well.

Let’s also hope things go well for the first of my deadlines this week: there’s the production of a copy brief (whatever one of those is) and a content audit (ditto).  I can make an educated guess about their contents, but will mostly be making it up as I go along, trying to put on a confident face and hoping no-one calls my bluff.

Wish me luck!