It was time to put up the Halloween decorations. We pulled the Halloween bin out to begin the decorating. A fun task the girls love to do. The putting away task will be mine- Not fun!

The girls had fun with the cob webs strung everywhere – but they were concerned the ayi would clean it all up! We were ready for Halloween.

Eleri had a classmate’s birthday party on Saturday in Jinqiao. After dropping her off, I had the task to find some pumpkins which is not always easy in China. I needed a pumpkin for the family to carve and Elle needed a pumpkin she can carry to school for Friday. My first stop was Carrefour on a SATURDAY – the worst day to go – hoards of people! Since it was pouring rain, more people were shopping and not outside playing. The pumpkins were very, very sad at Carrefour so I passed hoping for better luck at Pines. I did buy more Halloween decorations which made a couple girls happy.

My next stop was Pines with high hopes as I wasn’t sure where to go next. Pumpkins are generally at the Expat stores as China does not celebrate Halloween. The local wet markets won’t carry large pumpkins. Pines had VERY large pumpkins at a VERY large price. The pumpkins that were left, we large and flat. The flat part doesn’t make for a good carving pumpkin. I found the last tall pumpkin at 140rmb ($20) – SOLD! There were no small pumpkins for school. I had to buy a green Japanese pumpkin for Elle’s school fun.

I went back to the birthday party to wait for Elle. I called home to see how things were going. Jim was working on Emmy’s Medusa snake hair. We had purchased rubber snakes at YuGardens. Jim was too busy to talk. When I asked Emmy how it was going, she commented, “I don’t have to be Medusa, I can be something else”. Hum, that good!

The Medusa snake hair was on plan B. The first plan was to glue snakes to a wig. Since that did work, Jim created a plan B. Jim is very good at finding a solutions to any problem. He got an old baseball hat and cut off the bill. Then, he sewed the snakes onto the hat. By the time Elle and I got home, Jim had been sewing snakes for 3 hours. He was a bit grumpy, which I can’t blame him. I poured him a glass of wine as he sewed the last of the snakes on the hat. It looked great and more importantly Emmy had a big smile.

After dinner, we began the carving fun. The pumpkins in China have a thick skin, but very little seeds and insides. Jim, the master craver, went to work with his helps.