Halloween night...

Actually, it's 1:30 in the morning as I type, so it's really "Halloween plus one...."

Our Halloween party tonight was lots of fun.... the more parties we have out here, the more fun they are. Everyone who walked into our door tonight was more than ready for a good party, and having a house filled with Halloween decorations only added to the party atmosphere.

Mostly everyone came in costumes.... so creative.... we had the most beautiful witch I've ever seen (AC won First Prize for that).... and JS's little dog Bella won a ribbon for "Cutest Costume" -- she was dressed up in a mini-mini Wonder Woman outfit. Too adorable for words, that little Chihuahua.

We had an Army soldier (Second Place Prize), the "Gunsmoke" guy and Miss Kitty (from the old TV show), a poodle-skirt 1950s girl, the cutest raffia-stuffed scarecrow ever, my husband was one of the Duck Dynasty guys, I dressed up like one of the women of "Downton Abbey," and then.... four of the ladies and one of the husbands came in with zombie-like make-up and all wearing tee-shirts that said "Wait for it...." --- we had no idea what we were all waiting for, but the makeup and crazy outfits kept us guessing.  After dessert, music started to play that old song "The Monster Mash" and one of the ladies got up dancing to the music and not saying a word...... then the next tee-shirt-wearing woman got up and joined the first one... then the third... and then the fourth.... and the dance that started in the dining room ended up in the living room and front hallway, with the "Wait for it"-husband wearing a Dracula cape and taking the male singer's part in that song.

Without a doubt, they had to have practiced all of this during the week... and their show brought the house down....... it was an organized "flash dance" that had us all just mesmerized..... too funny for words, all of their dancing and the make-up and the howling and singing along with "The Monster Mash" music.

We always have a Potluck Dinner for our parties, and the array of foods has always been over-the-top...... casseroles and hot sandwiches, fried chicken, hot vegetables, potato salads, always deviled eggs (sometimes two or three different recipes)... and the dessert table tonight was over-flowing with better-than-a-bakery cakes and pies, brownies, cookies, chocolate-dipped strawberries... we could have fed at least ten more people with everything that was on the kitchen counters and the tables in the breakfast room.

Great, great party...... and tomorrow... I will start taking down the Halloween decorations.... and next week the Christmas decorations will come out of the closet... that always takes over a week to finish because every room is decorated with trees and Santas and angels and reindeer... it becomes a Christmas explosion.

What fun........ honestly, this house was made for company, made for parties, made to be shared with friends.   And how lucky am I to live here....