Halloween!

   My nephew Matt called over on Saturday evening, he does that a lot these days! Dave was up in the loft fetching the boxes of halloween decorations down and I was busy icing gingerbread skeletons and hanging halloween garlands all at the same time! As I bustled past him with an armful of trimmings I noticed a gleam in his eye as he said, with a big grin, "I love Halloween!" He then qualified his statement, adding; "because it's halloween, then its Christmas!"
    I stopped dead, and must have looked a little silly standing there looking so lost, covered in pumpkin bunting and various random seasonal ornaments. I nodded my head enthusiastically in agreement, and at the same time felt the all-too-familiar sense of panic rising in my chest.
   The truth is I love it for the same reason: halloween, bonfire night, Christmas! But the last few years with working more than is sensible, I have lost sight of that excitement I used to feel and replaced it with the panic.
   And here we are again back at the start. I am trying to be more realistic this year about what I can and can't do in the hope that I will actually get to enjoy some of it and avoid making myself as sick as I did last year. So far, so good. Halloween wasn't quite what it could be but we managed 5 pumpkins, the majority of our decorations up (even if it was at the last minute), hand iced gingerbread for the trick or treaters and a few photos and some sleep! That HAS to be an improvement. Bring on bonfire night!!...