This is Halloween....

OK, I'm sure there'll be loads of pumpkin shots tonight but I promised the boys that I would blip ours, and its saved me going out blip-hunting in the limited daylight hours!

Our family have all taken part in the annual ritual. Pete and Alex tackled the complex one yesterday - I wonder if anyone out there can guess what it's based on (I wouldn't have known!). Ben and I carved the far easier and more familiar Jack Skellington from A Nightmare Before Christmas this afternoon.

This film has a special resonance in our family - Alex still loves it and when he was about three he would sit and watch it over and over again, given half a chance!

Halloween occurs midway between the Equinox and the Winter Solstice, and signals the passage of autumn into winter. Originally a Celtic Festival, it marked the end of the final harvest period of late summer and the move into the winter season, with the storage of provisions and readying for cold months ahead.

It was believed that the gap between the living world and the spirit world was at its weakest and interaction between these worlds was easiest at this point in the ancient calendar, hence the link with ghosts and spirits.

When the boys were younger we used to celebrate in style - it has much better dressing up opportunities than any other festivals!! The boys are too old to trick and treat now, but we've had a quiet celebration at home with some Alchemist's Punch and a Black Cat cocktail, which have left me feeling decidedly cheerful :)