November 1st - Happy Birthday Megan!
Happy 5th Birthday Megan - I am on my way to your school with your cake (and Rachel's forgotten swim bag) but wanted to write a quick postcard about Halloween in London.
Halloween is an American holiday..walking down the street yesterday and I did not see anyone in a costume - very few homes had any sort of decorations..just not a holiday here. But in the evening, the pumpkins came out, the front doors were decorated and the children were everywhere - it was super!!
We had a wonderful night of trick or treating-about 20% of the houses in our neighborhood participated - mostly all Americans (the Brits feel it is not safe to open your doors to strange people begging for food and threatening them with vandalism) and those who did put on quite a spread of decorations and fun...the kids had a wonderful evening, and we had invited some of the Lauren and Rachel's British friends (who had never participated) and had to dress them up and teach them the rules (no, you can't just eat the candy the minute it is handed to you, no you don't go inside the house for a more special treat)
In America, we all file our children around with nary a comment to those we pass, in England everyone is greeted with a cheerful and polite "Happy Halloween" -very civilized!
Following an hour of trick or treating we headed to Sticky Fingers for a Halloween party and had a wonderfully fun dinner for 10!
At our previous house, our landlord (American) was having a Halloween party and invited us in...she had decorated the house like a scary mansion - excellent. (Megan asked if she could go see her room to see what it looked like now).
After we had left,they cranked up the smoke machine - which caused the smoke alarms to go off - and since we had installed it, she didn't remember the code I told her...poor thing - a bit of a downer on the party. I went by an hour later and all was quiet - must have figured something out.
Ok...off to school and an antiques meeting. Megan wants pasta for dinner.
We will be home after 5:00 tonight if you want to call her.
Love!
Amy
Halloween is an American holiday..walking down the street yesterday and I did not see anyone in a costume - very few homes had any sort of decorations..just not a holiday here. But in the evening, the pumpkins came out, the front doors were decorated and the children were everywhere - it was super!!
We had a wonderful night of trick or treating-about 20% of the houses in our neighborhood participated - mostly all Americans (the Brits feel it is not safe to open your doors to strange people begging for food and threatening them with vandalism) and those who did put on quite a spread of decorations and fun...the kids had a wonderful evening, and we had invited some of the Lauren and Rachel's British friends (who had never participated) and had to dress them up and teach them the rules (no, you can't just eat the candy the minute it is handed to you, no you don't go inside the house for a more special treat)
In America, we all file our children around with nary a comment to those we pass, in England everyone is greeted with a cheerful and polite "Happy Halloween" -very civilized!
Following an hour of trick or treating we headed to Sticky Fingers for a Halloween party and had a wonderfully fun dinner for 10!
At our previous house, our landlord (American) was having a Halloween party and invited us in...she had decorated the house like a scary mansion - excellent. (Megan asked if she could go see her room to see what it looked like now).
After we had left,they cranked up the smoke machine - which caused the smoke alarms to go off - and since we had installed it, she didn't remember the code I told her...poor thing - a bit of a downer on the party. I went by an hour later and all was quiet - must have figured something out.
Ok...off to school and an antiques meeting. Megan wants pasta for dinner.
We will be home after 5:00 tonight if you want to call her.
Love!
Amy
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