Hallowe'en in the village

Hallowe'en is traditionally observed in our village. That means the children go guising (not trick or treating) and we observe traditional customs such as dooking for apples. Pumpkins have become a feature of Hallowe'en relegating the turnip to a thing of the past. I had a lovely witches costume for my daughter but would she wear it? No. She didn't want to be a horrible witch she wanted to be a pretty ballerina. No amount of cajoling, threatening to go out guising without her worked. In the end she went as a ballerina. H took her and her little brother, dressed as a pumpkin, round the houses. My girl belted out a gaelic song in each house and they came home with a bag so heavy she couldn't carry it. 

After guising we went to the hotel for the Hallowe'en party. There were loads of children there and all in great disguise. I was worried my little boy would be scared but he joined in and was up dancing and running around screaming in delight. 

Once the children were settled in bed I went down to the hotel for the adults Hallowe'en party. It is an annual event that everyone makes a point of going to. This year I went as a witch - again. The funniest was when some of the villagers came dressed up as other villagers. People were meeting themselves. They all laughed. Everyone laughed. We played silly party games, rank and danced and just had good clean nonsense. 

The next night I stayed in while H played for a barn dance which was a shed warming party. It is a big shed.

We celebrated guy fawkes with the usual bonfire and fireworks. I don't actually know why we mark the occasion as it is an English event that happened before Scotland was joined to England in the Act of Union. The kids didn't come with me as my daughter doesn't like the bangs so refused to come and my little boy fell asleep in his high chair while rubbing potatoes into his hair. We are all exhausted as they haven't adjusted to the clocks going back so get up at 6am. 

The house is progressing well. The sewage and rainwater pipes are in and the ground has been levelled off by the digger and we have a large flattish garden area. It looks huge. Inside, is plodding on. The downturn in the building trade hasn't affected here yet. All our tradesmen are busy. 

We definitely won't be in for Christmas at this rate and we have decided to aim for sometime in January. It will be better to finish it and do a good job rather than cut corners and rush to get in. I just can't wait to live there and get out of this shoebox in a goldfish bowl.