Samhain 2012, the plotting begins...

It was Halloween 2009, a few months previously I’d suffered a miscarriage and we were trying for another baby, but as I sat at the dining room table that evening, hot water bottle clutched to my stomach – it had just become apparent that there was no baby on the way this month either. It was one of my lowest moments. As the neighbourhood children knocked on the door, trick or treating, our home seemed so quiet and empty. Now we’d set our hearts on becoming a family, the house seemed lonely with just the two of us in it.

Then our next-door-but-one neighbours knocked on the door accompanying their two children and bringing with them glasses of mulled wine by way of an invite to their house. I didn’t feel much like company but to be polite we dropped in for a short while. Their dining room was crammed with friends enjoying wine and conversation while their offspring ran around in fancy dress costumes. The yard was full of lanterns of all sizes, even the passageway between our houses had been decorated. Yes it was the complete opposite of our quiet, lonely house across the passageway.

I decided then not to waste another Halloween, to embrace every celebration and make the most of such occasions – especially the ones that only come along once a year… I would squeeze all the joy out of the world it could give me! I wanted what my next-door-but-one neighbours had.

Halloween 2010 I had a three week old baby and two new cats. The house was no longer empty, in fact it seemed significantly smaller and full to bursting. But I wasn’t really in a position to seize the day that year either, I don’t think I’d even been out of the house since the birth at that stage.

Halloween 2011 - There was no way I was going to lose three Halloween’s in a row! Taters had just turned one, he wasn’t sleeping well, he was teething, it was a gamble but other than missing the end of the evening due to him waking up, it was a really lovely evening, it felt really special. The house was decorated and friends invited over, I’d spun a web of wool around the house with threads for each guest to follow – each individual thread led to their place at the table where a little gift bag awaited then. We each lit candles for lost loved ones and used these to illuminate the table. The food was edible and no one was ill (when it comes to my cooking people tend to come with low expectations, so anything that isn’t an out-and-out disaster is generally well received. You don’t really come to my house for the fine cuisine if truth be told).The wine flowed and we had ourselves a little riddling contest. Later we each wrote something we wanted to let go of on autumn leaves with golden pens, then burned them outside to symbolise letting go. It was simply a lovely evening with wonderful company. It ended too abruptly when Taters woke up, but well, you can’t have everything…

So, Halloween 2012 is not far away and I’m already mulling a few ideas around my spooky little head. Taters isn’t quite old enough yet to participate, but that’s fine, his time will come. I now need to think of different things to do this year as I don’t want to simply replicate the previous year. Hmmn, what to do, what to do…