Halloween

I love Halloween. It's not fashionable to love Halloween in Australia - in fact, it used to be considered downright unpatriotic.

More recently, however, retailers have started to see it as another way to make money, so costumes and decorations do appear in the supermarkets. I still have to buy my candy corn and mallow pumpkins from a special US foods website (which makes MY house the best to trick or treat!) ...

Our old house used to look great at Halloween, being a fairly creepy looking house even when not decorated.

This house is probably just a bit too recently renovated. But we made a minor effort.

Kid 2 is a vampire with a great deal of attitude. Kid 1 is happy Mafia (or Justin Bieber). Kid on far left is Kid 1's BFF, and the tiny poppets are his half-siblings (one from each parent - Modern Family indeed).

The Holiday

Two more sleeps. Have I packed? Lordy, no. I have written helpful lists for my mother (who is here to look after Kid 1 and Kid 2, although they are largely self-propelling). I have not finished work. I have not even made plans for what to do while in NYC, although some things are completely obvious.
The only thing I have decided to pack is my DKNY Cozy, because it strikes me as an ideal flying companion - blankie and cardigan-type-arrangement all in one.

It's Halloween tomorrow night, and the kids would kill me if I didn't decorate the house, carve the pumpkins, dress up and hand out treats. It's not ideal when we have to be at the airport by 8am the next day, but there you go ...