Christmas Pictures

We hit Chadron on Friday. The annual Trunk or Treat was great, as always. We went with friends, all of us loaded in two cars together. We got the rowdy bunch and my poor beleaguered husband was happy to drop us off and run for the peace of Walmart. The rest of us enjoyed the last of the warm beautiful fall days.
October has been so full of festivities that by the time Halloween proper rolled around I was exhausted. The kids weren’t and that is the important thing.
It was cold all day. We worked inside on shelling beans, freezing brussel sprouts and fitting in one last little bit of Halloween WOW and LOTRO. When evening rolled around we bundled up nice and warm then headed out into the chill.
That wasn’t actually all that chilly. I had forced layers of long underwear, coats, and gloves onto the children. They quickly discarded them. The weather was actually just about perfect. It’s supposed to be cold on Halloween. Even with the hint of mist in the air we all stayed warm walking as fast as we could, anxious to get to the next house and the next treat. We had planned on doing one street. They finished that in record time and we decided to go down the next one, then the next, and the next. They canvased most of the town and we were still home well ahead of bed time!
The littlest of the children had a hard time keeping up with the big ones. One of them crashed a few times right on his head in his rush to keep up and enjoy the fun. Luckily his trusty hat saved his face. He wore out quickly and retired to the car with his father who was as easily tired of trick or treating as my darling husband. The men followed in the vehicles, as the women ran behind the children loosely herding them along. No serious injuries were received, no children ran over by cars, we even made it home without hitting any deer!
Halloween was a success.
There’s nothing like a small town Halloween. There are houses where all the children are ushered inside. We stand on the street waiting without worry. All the children we meet we well known to each other. Even if not recognized under the costumes. They join together in bands then separate coming and going through the night. Home made treats are handed out without us worrying about who made them or what could be inside. Supper is traditionally held at the church, a combination of irony and beauty.
It was cold and windy for our Halloween party this year. That was alright, we hid in the playhouse. It kept us warm and out of the wind and gave a perfect place to carve and paint pumpkins.
The adults stayed inside at least. The children took turns between painting and carving and running out to climb on the hay bales.
As evening drew near and the sun began to set we moves out to the fire pit. There we roasted marshmallows and hot dogs. Huddled around the fire we stayed warm but managed to avoid falling in.
The book, my book, Understanding Horse Whorls is available. Again.
It was released some time ago. In the spring maybe? As an ebook. That went very well. Sold copies all over the world. Lots of people asked for a print version though. And there were lots more things I was still learning that I wanted to add. So, I started adding, and I started reformatting, all the things it took to get it to print form. Then there was more editing, fiddling with the cover, all the stuff. It took a long time. We were also busy with the other summer stuff and my normal work I needed to do so there wasn’t a lot of time to work on it. Thankfully the kids went back to school
After a going through a few proof copies with all the waiting to be delivered that that calls for I think I’ve fiddled with it enough. All that I’m going to at lest. Until people start pointing out the errors that we all have missed. Then there will be some more fiddling.