We love Halloween Tat! -why we can enjoy witches, bats and pumpkins

All Hallows Eve, Halloween, Festival of the Dead, Samhain and All Saints Day what ever you call it the 31st October is an excellent excuse for celebration. Generally, Halloween is considered to be one of the oldest holidays that is celebrated by majority of the countries around the world. In times such as they are, with the economic downturn and newspapers full of gloom, the thought of months of cold and dark ahead we really need something to cheer us up. Halloween is the perfect excuse.

Widely thought of as a festival with its roots in pagan beliefs that was then adopted by the christian faith. Actually Halloween originated from different cultural influences over thousands of years. No matter how each culture celebrates Halloween, it is still apparent that this holiday is being commemorated every year by people all over the world. I have had a little delve into the Internet to uncover the different rituals and ways that have developed over the years.

In the western countries such as the United States, Canada and the UK, they are celebrating Halloween by displaying carved pumpkins and corn stalks. Children go trick or treating and even wear scary costumes which depict scary creatures as they roam door to door for treats. These are the common practices in the western countries.

In Ireland, where the trick or treating originated, they celebrate their Halloween by anxiously pursuing sweet treats. Children wearing ghoulish costumes knock on the doors of every house asking for sweets. This has been a long time tradition that is still practiced every year. Aside from that, the houses are also decorated with numerous Halloween decorations and lights.

As for the Spanish people, they are known to enjoy numerous kinds of feasts and other celebrations and they celebrate their Halloween similarly to the western countries wherein children receive sweets from their neighbors while adults enjoy Halloween parties at clubs. They also tend to hold numerous Halloween parades as part of the celebration.

In the Pagan and Wiccan traditions the festival of Samhain represents the time when the veil between this world and the afterlife is at its thinnest allowing ancestral visitors to return and visit the earth plane. It is also the "witches" New Year and represents the moons triumph over the sun as winter progresses before being defeated again when the sun regains power at Yule - the Winter Solstice. Modern day practicing Pagans will celebrate by holding a dummy supper, were an extra place is laid at the dinner table for ancestral visitors. Being the new year they also use the occasion to make their New Year's resolutions just as is done at the beginning of the calendar year.

On the other hand, Asian cultures have a slightly different manner of celebrating Halloween. In China, people offer food and water while they light their lanterns so that the spirits of their deceased loved ones will be guided in travel during the night of Halloween. Aside from that, pilgrims are also visiting Buddhist temples and they create paper boats which they regard as the symbols of the spirits of the dead. It is also not uncommon for whole families to hold picnics in cemeteries, their way of remembering their loved ones.  These are regarded as a places to celebrate and remember not just to mourn.

In Japan, Halloween is celebrated as the Obon Festival wherein special dishes are made and bright red lanterns are hung in each house. These lanterns are lit with light to serve as a guide to show the spirits where their loved ones are. The Japanese families also clean the memorial stones of their deceased loved ones because they believe that their spirits come and visit during the festival.In Japan however,  the Obon festival is celebrated at some time in July or August.

So fill your house with Halloween Tat, carve your pumpkins, hang bats from your lampshades, play silly games and dress up in ever more outrageous costumes, celebrate and let your hair down . Then when all the trick or treators have gone and you collapse at the end of the night, still bathed in candlelight, catch your breath and take a moment to reflect on memories of your loved ones.

Why I Love My Dishwasher

For years my husband and I resisted the lure of the dishwasher. Somehow we were a little suspicious of the claim that it could wash the dishes as well as a person. For me it was the extra consumption of energy, the detergents and the gallons of water that would be wasted, that put me off. Eventually we were seduced and after a bit of rearranging the kitchen units our dishwasher arrived.

The novelty of the arrival of the new kitchen appliance was a kin to the excitement of getting a new family pet and in fact I have caught my husband stroking it lovingly at times.

So why is it so fantastic?

In the early days it was the obvious freeing up of time. Then it was the excitement of finding new things to put through the dishwasher; tooth mugs, the removable drawers and shelves from the fridge, vases etc. I have known my Mum to put her washing up bowl and brush through the dishwasher to give them a bit of a spruce up! but then again I have also known her to put flower pots in too!

But our affection for the dishwasher has moved on from the honeymoon phase and we still love it. One of the more obvious benefits is the re-assurance of knowing that the temperature of the water used is far hotter than any human hand can endure (and we have all experienced the impromptu steam facial from opening the door mid cycle to prove it!). The high temperatures will kill off far more germs and bugs than conventional washing- a good thought if you have young children. They essentially cook the germs to death but if you want to try cooking something a little more appetizing try cooking salmon in the dishwasher! not done it myself but i hear it gets great results.

The less obvious factor is the subtle effect it has on our family at meal times. Knowing I'm not going to be faced with a mountain of washing up helps you make more of an effort. Sitting down to a simple lunch of salad used to be a raced affair, lasting barely minutes, with us hardly tasting the food let alone savouring it. Now we get out all the condiments, pickles and preserves. The salad is lovingly prepared in a serving dish rather than just thrown on a plate.

Our kitchen actually feels bigger. We lost a cupboard in order to fit in our new pet but the lack of pots and pans precariously piled up on the draining board has given the appearance of a larger more airy kitchen. The kitchen is cleaner and tidyer too. Actually being able to see the draining board means you clean it more often. The clean worktops mean they don't succumb to the "stuff magnet"- that's the natural law of stuff is always attracted to stuff. This is illustrated  in many areas of the house. Particularly kitchen work tops, hallways and window sills. For example if you put a piece of post down in the hall, the next time you walk past the table it will have drawn various objects to it. It will have been joined by at least two more bits of paper, a bunch of keys, a piece of Lego and most likely in our house the remains of a biscuit!

Anyway back to the draining board - a clear draining board without objects will stay clearer, for longer without the "stuff magnet".

Cooking is also much more appealing - baking, jam making etc is so much more fun without spending more time clearing up than actually eating the cake.
So what else? The evening meal - We eat less and enjoy more. For a start the table looks prettier, the table mats we usually save for guests come out. Instead of just grabbing our own cutlery on the way past the drawer we lay the table. We even use the gravy boat! - my Mum will be so proud!At weekends we even have candles or a vase of flowers. We eat less because we use serving dishes on the table instead of piling the food high on our plates in the kitchen. We waste less food too, the food we don't eat is still neatly sitting in the serving dishes uncontaminated ready to save for another day.

What's next ? I hear you ask. Well I may even go that little extra step and invest in a milk jug!

Beat the house work - get a Cleaning Buddy!

There are very few of us that enjoy the endless cycle that is housework. Even the smallest of residences turns into the Fourth Bridge when it comes to keeping up with the house hold chores. The majority of us can keep up with the day to day washing up or a quick flick round with a duster while spraying polish randomly into the air before friends arrive - a very wise friend taught me that trick! but I challenge any one to be on top of all those jobs that require a bit more effort and thought.

These are the jobs that don't come a long that often, the ones that once you do it, it could be six months or even a year before you have to do them again. The sort of jobs you have to psyche yourself up to tackle. The cupboard under the stairs, the cleaning of the grout in the bathroom, washing all your net curtains. Other jobs like actually getting to the bottom of your ironing basket - yes even ironing that top that seems to permanently live in there, you know the one, the one that's been in there so long it doesn't even fit any more! and getting rid of the random objects that lurk in there too - I have a set of curtain tie backs in mine? I don't even remember owning any curtains they would have gone with!

Well my solution is to get some one else to do it! well may be not all on their own. In other words get yourself a Cleaning Buddy. Someone that you feel comfortable enough with to show them your flaws and weaknesses, or at least show them the state of your airing cupboard. So how does it work? first select your friend - I suggest choosing some one that lives a hectic a lifestyle as you do. You don't think they will be too keen? they're too busy? - they will jump at it once you explain that you will come and help them defrost their freezer! Next choose your chore - start small - going through and sorting all the childrens' jumbled up puzzles over a pot of tea will be more appealing than if you invite a friend round to paint the outside of your house! Then arrange the time - its as easy as that!

As if the satisfaction of completing one of your dreaded tasks wasn't enough you have the added benefit of spending some quality time with one of your best friends. Although I have to confess on my first cleaning date we just drank the tea! but I did clean the grout afterwards anyway! So don't be daunted get some one else to do it.

Any one fancy sorting my loft out?

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Build Family Ties with Simple Suppers

We all know that the family meal is part of the fabric that keeps families together. It helps cement the bonds between parents and children and between brothers and sisters. As the family grows and the children inevitably grow up and become people in their own right it becomes increasingly harder to maintain these bonds. Dinner at my Sister's house, although a hectic occasion, really is the quintessential family supper, good food and good conversation and plenty of both! a real pleasure.

But it is easier said than done, there are hundreds of excuses and circumstances that make this simple act of sharing a meal together so difficult. Busy lives are often to blame, long working days, hectic social lives (that's the kid's that is!) after school clubs etc etc. It comes a point when you have to book an appointment with your own family!

So you make your demands and ensure every one will be present and correct for supper, you squeeze in a slot between swimming lessons and the next lot of Scouts only to be faced with a table full of silence. So how is it done around my Sister's dinning room table?

Well it's the simplest exercise ever. They each take it in turns (and that's every one, Mum, Dad, Children, their friends and guests) to answer two simple questions.

"What did I learn today?" and "What did I enjoy most?"

and that's it! - it creates a structure to help everyone think of something to say and contribute to the conversation, and from that it opens up a myriad of channels for discussion. All topics personal to the people around that table, every one is involved, every one has the chance to comment and what's more every one gets the chance to be listened to.

Try it for yourselves, whether you are sitting down to a plate of beans on toast or a gourmet supper, whether you have a large family or just sitting down to eat with a friend, you will be pleasantly surprised how easy it is to make the conversation flow and you might just learn a bit more about your nearest and dearest too.