A haunting good time

Ahhh....my little goblins are out haunting the neighbourhood while I stand guard over our stash of Hallowe'en goodies and treats and greet our little visitors one-by-one.  I'm also armed with warm Hallowe'en punch for when the little ones return from their adventures.  I can't remember the last time I stayed home and Chris took the little ones out.  But this is nice.

And what a busy day we enjoyed together too.  I retold the children the story of where many of our Hallowe'en traditions came from...the festival of Samhain that was celebrated by the Celts of long ago.  To honour some of those old traditions, we made Sussex soul cakes and shared them with family.  I have a funny feeling there will be a small plate of them sitting on the hearth of our masonry heater tonight too.  We dressed up right after lunch and shared our small homemade treats with grandparents, then headed over to our local homeschool-friendly and Waldorf-inspired school for a Hallowe'en dance. 

In a flurry of preparation before darkness fell, the pumpkins were carefully hauled to the steps, along with some jar lanterns the children made at a pumpkin festival this year.  Our little tin lanterns donned their wire handles (the finishing touch) and were hung where the hanging baskets of summer used to be.  Candles were lit.  Faces were re-painted.  In excitement, the little ones rushed out the door.  This adult decided to stop being a stick-in-the-mud and pulled together a little of this and a little of that for her own homemade costume (thanks Jaelyn for lending me your playcape). 

We hope everyone had a happy Hallowe'en!