The costumes came together in time, even without the help of a movie (I listened to some of the archives from A Gnomes Home Radio instead). Many, many photos were taken, but sadly, I left my camera at a friends house (shame on me!).

Several years ago, we created a really beautiful Halloween tradition, with the help of some wonderful friends. The first year it was just our two families, but it has since grown to include other families as well. Last night’s festivities featured 8 children, and a whole bunch of babies! Last year Galen was the only baby, and this year he’s being counted among the children (please excuse me while I try to stifle a small sigh….).

We all gather together for a potluck and all of the little ones get to play together in their costumes, which they consider great fun. In fact, they tend to spend the entire year planning what costume they will chose based on what they think their friends will chose and how that will work out in play… “If E’s a skunk and I’m a bear, then I can scare him away! Hmmm….but then he’ll probably spray me…” “If L’s a spoon, I can be a fork, and then we can eat together!” and so on…

This grouping includes some serious natural foods cooks, including two organic farmers, so the spread is always incredible!

The parents of each family bring a treat, making sure there is one for each child. In years past there have been sea shells, little woolen gnomes, bendy doll witches, friendship bracelets, necklaces strung from dried flowers, smooth black stones painted with stars and glitter, and many other pleasant little trinkets, as well as a couple of yummy and wholesome edible goodies. Last year I made a selection of miniature needle felted fruits and veggies. This year, my contribution was a squash pudding in little cups with orange and green ribbons.

After dinner comes the truly enchanting part. Some of the adults sneak out and hide lit jack ‘o lanterns all around the property…some in the woods, some in the fields, some down by the river. At the base of each pumpkin is one families treats. The children all go searching together, through the night, bags in hand to gather up their goodies. After the hunt, we gather around a bonfire and sing songs and tell stories and talk and laugh. Last night there were several “puppies” and they put on a “dog show”!

On the drive out there last night Iain said to me, “Mama, I just love doing things out in the dark…” Me too, sweetie. Me too.

It looks like I’ll be taking a little blog break. My camera won’t be back until Monday evening, at the earliest. I’m off to have the rest of my wisdom teeth out tomorrow (unless I can think of a really good excuse not to between now and then) and my parents are coming up for a visit on Sunday, not to mention the fact that we are now into building crunch time (the roof goes on next weekend!). I suspect that my days will be pretty full!

I hope you all have a beautiful weekend filled with and joy!