Bring out the pumpkins!

It's October! This means I am now allowed to go into full blown Halloween mode. Halloween is not a big deal at all in Belgium, it doesn't really get celebrated. This much to the regret of yours truely, a self professed blood & gore afficianado who loves to play dress-up. I'm the only house in our street who decorates for Halloween. We started a couple of years ago with a simple carved pumpkin in front of the door and since I haven't gotten any serious threats from neighbours yet (other then them lecturing me about how weird I am for "buying into" an "American" holiday. Which is stupid because Halloween dates way back and has pagan European roots and... wait, I'm drifting, let's get back to the sentence, shall we?).. Uhm, where was I? So yeah, decorations now involve skulls and spiders and witches (oh my!) and get more elaborate each year.

Last year my two year old niece helped carve the jack-o for the first time (she mostly watched off course) and I'm confident that I can make this a tradition and instill an unquestioning love for all things Halloween in her once she's old enough to understand the enjoyment of being scared. I'm on a mission!

Also last year, I was fortunate enough to be surrounded by a lot of like minded colleagues and we had a little Halloween party at work. I'll miss them all this year, here in Halloween solitude!