Halloween: It's a thing here

So Thursday was Halloween here.

There have been decorations up for over a month already, but the really gory ones are starting to feature in bars, in shops, in restaurants and in people's yards and houses.

Ireland is the home of the original Halloween - Samhain (pronounced salween)

Here are just a few on our mission to Dublin botanical gardens - yes those are gravestones in their front yard!

I told my nanny kids I'd never been trick or treating before so they invited me to go with them. 

In the days leading up to Halloween, we made decorations, practised getting dressed up, G6 designed a costume for me, and made spooky brownies.

The day of Halloween, G6 and I carved a pumpkin for the front door step. 

We also carved tortillas into Jack o lantern shapes. 

Parents came home early, and everyone for into their costumes, bags were grabbed and we went door to door. I loitered on the side walk mostly and let the kids do the talking. 

There were the usual calls of 'trick or treat', and me hissing 'did you say thank you?!' afterwards. 

Fireworks echoed around the neighborhood as we made our way down the streets. 

Finally, we all returned home to review the stash. B9 was very excited that he got 74 things! 

I left my fairy wings behind and was heralded home by council-display-sized fireworks going off in Dublin 1, I think from in a construction site. I stumbled upon a carnival by a school near us and, even though it was raining, there were many people enjoying the rides, music and face paint.

The fireworks continued into the night, and I commented to Jared that if we were in a warzone, you wouldn't know the difference. We feasted on the sweets shared by my nanny kids with me and had a couple of wines whilst watching fireworks out the window from our 4th floor apartment. 

All in all a very festive fun holiday.