Halloween

Aaahhh, Halloween, how I love it! Unlimited candy, caramel apples, costumes, jack o'lanterns...what a fantastic holiday. I'm so thrilled that even though Halloween is not generally celebrated here in Norway, especially not by adults, guests at our first annual Norwegian Halloween party were such good sports. They came in costume, they played all my goofy games (such as wrapping each other up with toilet paper like mummies) and they made quite a dent in the ridiculous mountain of food. If I had known everyone would be so excited about playing silly games, I would have planned for more. I spent hours agonizing over the menu and the activities (I was so nervous as it was a party for Kevin's coworkers, many of whom I'd never met before.) My friend Amanda had some great suggestions for games--one involved pouring brandy over raisins, lighting the brandy on fire, and then everyone grabbing flaming raisins and popping them in their mouths. For many obvious reasons, I didn't inflict that particular torturous activity upon our guests! In retrospect, maybe I should have--I think they all would have eagerly jumped right in and braved third degree burns. Viking blood courses through their veins!