What Halloween heralds

Yes, it’s Halloween… which means that another year of married life is now in the annals of history.

Natasha and I started the whole spending-the-rest-of-my-life-with-you deal very young, and in the intervening years have probably expressed our love for one another in every imaginable way. There is very little that I can say on this occasion that wouldn’t be banal or mawkishly sentimental. And I am clearly no longer a romantic my lovely spouse makes me out to have been in my youth (not having to woo a sexual partner for half of one’s life tends to neutralize one’s ability to woo altogether). So, as a cop-out, here is one of my all-world favorite song lines. It happens to perfectly describe my feelings for Natasha.
 

 
I hope you know that. Of course, you do – I’ve sang this to you dozens of times…

I love you!

In the meantime, England continued to disappoint my daughters with its utter inability to enjoy Halloween. Kimmy spent half a day today saying things along the lines of I hate England! Why don’t they celebrate Halloween here?

True, there are occasional trick-or-treaters (I’ve been told that our house was honored by no less than two of them). But overall, the streets are overwhelmingly empty, the decorations are absent, and the kids in cute costumes – such as my two adorable daughters – are greeted with incomprehension more often than with delight.

There was, however, a nice party at the junior department of Becky’s school, attended by over a hundred dressed-up kids. Both Becky and Natasha volunteered for entertainment duty (face-painting, presents-making and such), which allowed Kimmy to partake in festivities. The party was organized by the parents, and, according to Natasha, was really well done, including several activity stations, a discotheque and a buffet. The latter consisted of largely fruits, vegetables and sweets, very much unlike what Natasha recalled from the parties that she participated in organizing at schools in New Jersey, which are always dominated by potato chips… Because of their duties, neither Natasha nor Becky could escort Kimmy around various entertainment stations much, but in the end, they all had a good time.

Coupled with their last night’s theater visit to watch a local production of Annie (and don’t forget the circus on Saturday), my ladies have had a very eventful week.

Which is not over. On Friday, we expect an invasion of adolescent girls for Becky’s sleepover birthday celebration. Oy vey!