The Day After Halloween
I fell out of bed a little after 9 this morning, and discovered the younger children camped out in the lounge watching cartoons, surrounded by wrappers, deep in some kind of sugar induced trance. Without saying a word, I wandered from room to room, pulling down fake cobwebs, collecting plastic spiders, and un-sticking zombie warning tape. By mid-morning the house looked like our own again, save for a mountain of washing up.
With Absolute 80s pumping from the radio, I repeatedly filled the sink with glasses, cups, plates, and cutlery, and basically “switched off”. I'm good at “just getting on with things” – I always have been. My better half arrived in the kitchen at some point, put the kettle on, and we started laughing about some of the antics from the night before – piecing together various memories of the evening that one or the other of us hadn't been present for.
The lines from A Christmas Carol came to mind, where the Ghost of Christmas Past remarks on the party thrown by Fizziwig in Ebernezer's youth; “He has but spent a few pounds”. We invited friends, bust our asses for a couple of days preparing the house, and yes – we threw a little money at it – but it was more than re-paid by the good will, laughter, and hilarious antics that our friends and their children filled our house with. Although shattered this morning as we finally put the kettle on and sat down, we had smiles on our faces;
“Do you remember when so-and-so did this...”
“Did you see whatsisname? So funny...”
“I couldn't believe how brilliant whatsit looked...”
The afternoon marked a sudden departure for our middle girl. She had been determinedly avoiding doing a school project throughout half term, and found herself with one day left to do it (today). We had tears, and fall-on-the-floor tantrums before she finally knuckled down and got on with it. I had to try and sound sympathetic about it all, but quietly wanted to shout “THIS IS YOUR OWN DAMN FAULT!”... here's hoping that she will remember what happened when she left the project until the last day.
Tonight is all about television, wine, leftover food, a movie, and some popcorn. Time to switch off. Time to re-charge our batteries.