Diary of a Dad Aged 50¾ - Part 2

For 364 days of the year, we have very clear and direct messages for our youngest children:

“Don’t talk to strangers!”

“Never take sweets from strangers!”

“Don’t talk to strangers!”

So then for one evening across the whole year, in the freezing cold and dark, we walk with the same children around our neighbourhood, encouraging them to walk down a stranger’s front path as we stand watching, to knock on the stranger’s door, to talk to them and take sweets?

Welcome to Halloween! Otherwise renamed Lefillus Holeus, the patron saint of increased dental business!

In our houses pumpkins are carved—the night before this year as the date has crept up in the middle of the week—and are out by the front door awaiting for the local slugs and snails to inhabit it during the evening, by the light of a health and safety approved battery operated tea light! I used to love the smell of cooking pumpkin, as the lid got hotter and hotter during the evening!

What’s your dressing up regime? Yep, probably much like ours at two weeks before declaring, this year if you want a costume you can pay for it yourself—only to be found at the till with card-in-hand 30 minutes later paying for the new annual outfit.

For Jaden, he loves the thought of a new costume and this year he is dressed as a scary pumpkin man; the mask for my liking is very grizzly and scary. Gino, is another matter. At the grand old age of 13, he is now too cool for full dressing up, but a scary wolf’s mask caught his attention. For going out on the night in the local neighbourhood? No! For the sole purpose of jumping out at home and frightening his younger brother Jaden, when least expecting it. Thereby giving us a few nights of broken sleep from the nightmares that will follow!

For us, Jo has a rather fetching but very comfortable looking witch's hat, with face veil, in black and for me a silver skeleton mask. Even the dog has a Halloween coat to go out and frighten the neighbourhood. Although, Dougal’s desire lays in the treats that have been dropped on the ground for a handy snack!

The temperature is set at a mere 6 degrees, which means we’re ready to go, but before we do, I’d like to thank the local primary school for their concern on the evening. The new Headmistress wrote in her latest newsletter to all parents, warning on the dangers of taking sweets from strangers, checking the sweets are okay, and not been tampered with to be "careful" on the evening!

In the newsletter she also puts that she does not want to come across as a "killjoy!" I can’t wait to see the helpful advice from the school when it comes to Valentine's Day next February, germ spreading, etc...

The question for the evening is: Go early and fill up with sweets from others or go late, once others have been around, to finish off the evening? With a gratitude to the motorway system and delays on the roads around, decision was taken for us due to being home late!

So, with most sweets gone from the mountain we had, the etiquette of mothers letting their offspring take handfuls of sweets and general politeness is for discussion another time. Late, but still with many others on the streets, with buckets in hand, dog with lead, off we go.

Only to the houses with decorations on display, the bucket fills, and one young Jaden is happy with his collection.

Home to the toothbrush quick…