Time to Take the Pumpkins Down

It’s the 10th of November, and the  #1 HoneyDo item is taking down the Halloween decorations before Thanksgiving. The autumn foliage on the doors can stay until the pine wreaths go up, and most of the indoor decorations can stay until then. I’ve tucked away the Day of the Dead skeletons, but the jack o’lanterns still must go back to the shed.

The grandchildren were adorable: the doctor, the Green Ninja and the Pink Ninja Princess. They were ecstatic that Auntie Abi Wonder Woman came to celebrate too.

This was a fall with lots of costumes and birthday parties. Beeboo, the baby, turned three with a Pinkalicious party. I had a huge pink sweater, and Tata wore a pink feather boa, bearing it manfully.
The kids always ask for stories about the 3 Ninjas Going to Grandma's house, featuring the Red Ninja, the Green Ninja and the Pink Ninja with their eponymous ninja powers. In the stories we always end up fighting snakes and chopping them up to roast for breakfast, whether it is a camping trip, a bicycle race or making pink sugar cookies. Rylan did inform me that in reality, ninjas do battle with other villains, not always snakes.

I used to tell my girls stories about Fat Matilda the Pirate Queen, who was a childhood favorite.  Abi confronted me after a recent visit: "What are you telling those children about pirates? When I told them a Fat Matilda story they said, with disbelief, 'The pirates hurt people and stole things?'"

I shrugged. "I'm mellowing in my old age."

MZ 11/10/17