Sunday 7 October 2012

First Halloween

This post is brought to you as part of Story Telling Sunday with Sian at High in The Sky.

Being a slightly quirky sort, I love Halloween, or Samhain as it's also known.  The veil between the two worlds is at its thinnest so you feel closer to those you have lost at this time of year.  Of course, with the veil being thin, our lost loved ones can pass through but so can those whom we would really rather didn't, hence why we dress up and make lanterns and try to be scary.  I love that it is becoming more popular here in the UK to have fun with the Halloween theme - any excuse to dress up the children is fine by me!


We used to live in a very rural area, a couple of doors away from the retained fire station.  Every Halloween they would have a sort of open house and the local children could come along and get a few sweets, have a sit in the fire engine and have a go at squirting the hoses etc.  Really it was about bonfire and firework safety as much as anything.  We were really excited to take Louis on his first Halloween (second really, but he was only 5 months old the first time).  It was one of those little milestones that seemed really important while we were dreaming of what being a parent would be like.  He thought it was great fun to go out in the dark when he should have been in bed and obviously didn't have a clue what we were doing there or why but it was new and therefore exciting.


For some reason I was thinking just now about how great that little ghost costume was that he wore that first visit and then realising that he was actually wearing the monster costume in these photos which he wore the year after.  This means that although the layout says "1st Halloween", it is actually not.  Now I have a dilemma which will take a lot of tea and cake to solve.


As a slight aside from the costume conundrum, I've just spotted the gorgeous polished wood floor in the photos.  Our old house was a 3 storey Victorian terrace that used to serve as a staff house for the big Union work house at the end of the road.  We loved our little house but it was just too little once we had 2 children.  We miss the village so much and never more so than this week when a chance conversation has led us to believe that Louis's asthma may actually be because of the pollution here, even though it doesn't seem polluted (we are close to the M3, M27 and Southampton Airport).  We now face another conundrum of what to do about this potential new information as nothing is concrete yet.  Of course, I will need a fair bit of tea and cake while we process this.

Switch the kettle on would you?

Bye for now
xx



16 comments:

  1. kettles and cake definitely needed. My Mom has just moved out of London and although where she is now is still urban it's pedestrianized and her asthma has improved tremendously. She never realized and had lived in London for years and years.

    Ugh on the realizing mistakes after the page is done :(

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  2. That a great Halloween layout and lovely photographs. It is always difficult when you spot you have dated something wrongly or used the wrong photograph. Maybe you could just add a written sticker pointing out your 'mistake'. Accidents happen. You still have the memory and that's what counts!

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  3. Certainly! The cakes are on me :)

    It's a beautiful page and a lovely story. So cute! I was just thinking the other day that our last little house had so many more photo spots and opportunites than the one we are in now. But TTO grew out of it..

    Let us know what you decide to do - it's a delightful page and I'm going to pin it on the Storytelling sunday board right now

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  4. What a gorgeous Halloween page, and doesn't he look cute as.

    That is a conundrum now about the asthma. I can understand why it would give you pause for thought.

    Just about to make Chocolate cupcakes with Raspberry Icing, i'll put one aside for you.

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  5. Lovely LO!!Even though I believe in Samhain, I hate trick or treat - just don't like the premise behind it. Just as well we're all different, eh??
    You need to move to Burbage! The air is so clean here, all our trees, roofs etc etc are completely covered in lichens, the best clean air indicator there is!!
    I'll be around for my cuppa in half an hour :)
    Hugs, LLJ xx

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  6. For the layout, I'd add a 1st(real)Hallowe'en, or 1st Hallowee'en (he noticed) or something like that and put the explanation you've given us on a piece of hidden journalling or the back of the layout.
    As for the asthma- that one will need more cake!

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  7. Lovely LO and I like the idea of a cake to solve a conundrum!

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  8. Yes I think you need plenty of tea and cake. It's a gorgeous layout though x

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  9. Oh I love the idea of tea and cake to solve a dilemma.
    Lovely LO. I'll get the kettle on then.

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  10. lovely layout and story.

    Move here! lol! village life, very little pollution and my nephews asthma improved tremendously when they moved here too! x

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  11. A great page and story to go with it - I am sure you can correct the date on it :-)

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  12. Super page and so much detail, plus the photos are just gorgeous :)

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  13. Super page and so much detail, plus the photos are just gorgeous :)

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  14. Super page and so much detail, plus the photos are just gorgeous :)

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  15. Don't mind if I do! My son was 9 days old on his first halloween, I dressed him up of course and took photos! That said, I woulden't redo the page, it is the first Halloween he really celebrated so count it as such:) Hallwoeen is big in NewEngland, the leaves, early darkness and chill in the air make it oh so creepy, we go all out every year!

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  16. Fantastic layout, I love the random googly eyes, they definitely add to the spooky monster feeling!

    It definitely sounds like you need some tea! And a good ponder. I don't think we take enough time to ponder these days! x

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