I’m going with nice and easy today to suit the mood, I know everyone is tired and the weather is shocking, so I thought we could just revel a little in this time of year and look at some pretty pictures…

The first time I can consciously remember Halloween being a thing was when I watched ET for the first time in 1982. Until that time Britain on the whole, had been pretty oblivious to this commercialized version of Halloween and instead had celebrated Guy Fawkes Night on November 5th; the chance to stand around a bonfire and burn an effigy of the treasonous Guy Fawkes whilst ohh-ing and ahh-ing over Catherine Wheels and colored Rockets as they lit up the sky. Slowly, slowly that began to change and by the time I bought my first house in 1993 Halloween and the tradition of trick-or-treating was well established. Unfortunately, so was the tradition of buying the Halloween candy at least twice every year to make up for the fact that you ate the first lot!

But my two countries celebrate the day very differently…

Back home in Britain, many people now carve pumpkins. But they aren't bought as part of a full day out; as part of a visit to a pumpkin patch, and they aren't cut for you in that pumpkin patch. Instead they are just bought simply at the supermarket. And pumpkins are pretty much the only decorations used on the houses, this picture from our last Halloween in Britain was taken two days after we returned from our first visit to Albany. Our house was decorated more than virtually every other house in our neighborhood and the decorations were only put up the day before.

In stark comparison the houses here are decorated for weeks before the actual day. Decorations are elaborate and thoughtful; here are some of my favorites…

And costumes are so very different as well… back home scary is all that happens; witches and goblins, ghosts and ghouls. But here pretty much anything goes. Here my girls show off some of our favorites from 2012 thru’ 2015, and before you ask; Mia Wallace (Pulp Fiction)!

And finally they say everything in America is bigger and that goes double for the candy haul! Bags or small baskets for collecting as used by my British friends are replaced by pillowcases here… look at all that Ruby gathered in 2015!

I wonder how different Halloween will be this year.

Do you plan to do things differently? Have you still bought Halloween candy to give out? Are you still planning on wearing a costume? I’ll ask again on the day, but please share pictures of your costumes if you are dressing up…

Be kind, be gentle,

Denise xoxo