Saturday 9 November 2013

All Hallows

The 1st of November brought some bad news to the Little House and caused such upset that I had no inspiration for a post for a while and all was quiet on the blog front. I'll write a little more about it in a later post once I've processed it all but, in the meantime, I thought I would focus on warmer, happier things and to me autumn has more than its fair share of these.  I know many people do not like Halloween and all it represents but I like to think of it as a time for fun and games and a little merriment before the last autumn month and the gloominess that seems to set in late November. Like Guy Fawkes night, it's also a chance to get together with friends and enjoy the warmth of good food and good company. Here's a little round-up of our evening.

In Scotland we call Trick or Treating 'guising' instead after the tradition of disguising yourself by dressing up and visiting neighbours to tell a joke, recite a poem or sing a song.


 I much prefer the idea of earning your treats with a bit of entertainment rather than just expecting to be given something under threats! Here's one of the girls' best jokes (yes they really were that bad):

Q  'What do you get when you cross a deer and a ghost?'
A  'Bamboo!'

Perhaps inspired by her recent trip to see The Lion King, H donned ears and a tail and with a little creative face paint was quite the pantomine tiger.


 S, who is currently consumed by The Hunger Games series, decided to be its heroine.  Fortunately, her big sister has perfected the 'Katniss braid' and was able to do her hair and, with wooden bow and arrow, she looked the part though I'm not sure the many retired folk in our village would have had any idea of who she was meant to be - Pocahontas maybe?!



Halloween would not be complete without  'dookin' for apples (removing an apple floating in a basin of water without using your hands, either spearing it with a fork held in your teeth or by biting it).  


We now have a whole box of Halloween decorations to keep the Christmas boxes company and every year I have to try and de-tangle the various decorations from witch wigs and fake cobwebs. Our collection includes three rubber rats with red eyes. They always end up on the dining table  - a delightful addition to the fruit bowl!

Rats and fake bats and fake cobwebs are all very well but the centrepiece has to be the craved pumpkins:



And always, every year, one decoration gets forgotten and so it was that a few days later when everything (or so I thought) had been packed away I spied a little glow-in-the-dark skeleton hanging nonchalantly on the corner of the TV. I think I might just leave him there till Christmas!


I'm linking this post up with Clarina's Contemplations and her Savouring the Season blog hop:

ClarinasContemplations

11 comments:

  1. Nice to hear from you I was worried as you hadn't posted lately... hope you're ok. Julie x

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    1. Thanks Julie - don't worry we're all alright and that's the important stuff. Hope you're not too overwhelmed with all your Christmas orders which look adorable by the way x

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  2. Nothing like getting into the spirit of the occasion.. but as Julie says, hope you're all OK.

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    1. Thank you - was 'spirit' of the occasion a spooky pun!? We're alright healthwise but having to deal with a difficult situation - as they say 'expect the unexpected'. I've been writing, and rewriting, a blog post about it and it's helped a little but not quite ready to publish yet. Helen

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  3. Those pumpkins are amazing! Looks like you all had great fun. Sorry to hear about your 'bad news', hope you're ok x

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    1. Thanks Suzanne - all ok here just a bit a bit of 'a spanner in the works' !

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  4. Oooh, the Katniss braid! I love it! "Dookin'" and "guising"... you Scots have a way with words. (I should say we Scots since I am a full quarter, but I lack the creative vocabulary. Though I can pronounce scone correctly, thanks to my Scottish grandma.)

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    1. Thanks Cassadie. The scone debate goes on in this house - should it be 'scone' rhyming with 'gone' or 'scone' rhyming with 'bone'. I favour the first and think that's more Scottish. x

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    2. Yep, the first is the way I was taught. Also, in the US we eat our scones plain and my grandma insisted that you slather them with butter and jam. I like her way much better!

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  5. Hope all is well, glad you are back to posting.

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  6. Impressive pumpkins! Sorry to hear you've had a tough week. Thinking of you. Xx #SavouringtheSeason

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