My mother sent Hallowe'en cards for both children and a small present for Jamie. I was a few days late in passing these on to the children due to having mistaken them for birthday presents and put them aside until closer to the date; it wasn't until I peeked inside the package and noticed a definite Hallowe'en theme to the contents that I realised I should actually have dispensed them on October 31st. Ooops.
However, wrong date or not, the gift was definitely a hit. "This is a great card," Jamie declared to me. "It has a spider in it. An' a web." It did indeed – a very impressive pop-up one. But the present – a small box of magnetic pumpkins with facial features to stick on and assemble your own pumpkin face – was even better. Jamie spent most of dinner playing with them, starting out with what he declared would be a Ten Questions Quiz for me and Barry ("Question 1 – which two pumpkins are stuck together? Very good – well done! Question 2 – which pumpkin is missing? Very good – well done! Question 3 – which pumpkins are upside down? Very good – well done!") before getting sidetracked somewhere around Question 8 by the fun of actually assembling a face. Having put one face together, he was so pleased with it he kept on disassembling and reassembling that one without even trying any of the alternate eyes, noses, or mouths, merely turning the mouth he was using upside down for a bit of emotional variety ("Now, someone has made this pumpkin very sad.")
Katie, meanwhile, although too little to be allowed near magnetic pumpkins, did get her own card, which she tried to eat. (This is hardly surprising – she tries to eat anything she's handed.) So, all in all, the Hallowe'en package was a major hit, with big thank yous to Granny Constance.
Good Enough Mum 