Hallowe'en
Oct. 31st, 2009 10:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ailbheI realised this evening that for me, Hallowe'en is a festival of giving. It's just before my birthday (Happy Birthday Becky!) and I love it to bits.
I love children getting dressed up in costumes - one boy this evening was keen to point out he'd dyed his hair and I had to turn on another light to see it - and the way they turn and preen and beam and roar and display when admired. I love giving them sweets and satsumas and nuts. I love putting a candle (some years a skull candle, some years a jack o'lantern) in the window so that they know they are welcome to knock.
I love having lots of children (10 walking guests, 1 pre-walking, and my own 2 today) milling around my house on a carpet of popcorn, crisps and monkey-nut shells. I love wet hair and sleeves from bobbing for apples.
I love the dressing up - not disguising yet, for these little children, they want to be known as who they are - and the way masks and costumes come off when they get in the way of play.
I love having parties where I can prepare all the food the day before so there's only normal housework to do on the day of the party.
And of course I love that tomorrow is my birthday, the thirty-first anniversary of the day my mother had a baby on her birthday. I really love the years when we spend that day together.
I love children getting dressed up in costumes - one boy this evening was keen to point out he'd dyed his hair and I had to turn on another light to see it - and the way they turn and preen and beam and roar and display when admired. I love giving them sweets and satsumas and nuts. I love putting a candle (some years a skull candle, some years a jack o'lantern) in the window so that they know they are welcome to knock.
I love having lots of children (10 walking guests, 1 pre-walking, and my own 2 today) milling around my house on a carpet of popcorn, crisps and monkey-nut shells. I love wet hair and sleeves from bobbing for apples.
I love the dressing up - not disguising yet, for these little children, they want to be known as who they are - and the way masks and costumes come off when they get in the way of play.
I love having parties where I can prepare all the food the day before so there's only normal housework to do on the day of the party.
And of course I love that tomorrow is my birthday, the thirty-first anniversary of the day my mother had a baby on her birthday. I really love the years when we spend that day together.