It was a long night.

Not exactly what you want to hear when someone relives a party for you. Vicariously asked earlier, I am still not sure if the person asking really wants to know. It was a long night.

It starts out fun... she begins ominously....

A night before the big event I've been planning for weeks, my family spends six hours setting up several totes full of Halloween decorations. There are things in the bins that were long forgotten in the heaps of over excess that piled up over the years. Most were welcomed presents from after holiday sales that were lovingly 'thinking of you when I saw this' gifts and so forth.

New squeals and coos over the fun things procured echo around the large cultural hall as each one is displayed. That 'bewitching sign' needs a spot, and hubby rushes around to find a hook strong enough to hold it. The girls are in a corner giggling over the spider web they are attempting to smother the walls in. It will need to be redone, but they're harmlessly preoccupied so they aren't disturbed right now.

After I finished unloading the bins, I realize that there is still much to do. Luckily I have someone helping. And she has her husband, too. We scuttle around merrily in quite the festive mood.

But it is late and the kids have school in the morning.

I grudgingly get up from my cramped position, still excited for the party I spent hours starting to decorate for. We pile into the van with a promise to return after the kids are dropped off the next day. I privately vow to come armed with much pain medicine as I am determined to move around the next day whatever my insides decree.

Somehow the next day starts off busier than we wanted. The breaks on the van failed last night on our way home and we drifted down a steep hill on the way back to our street. Dangerous, hubby immediately sets to work to remedy the fiasco before we have to use it again. Thank goodness the kids ride a bus to school.

The van isn't finished until the kids get home. We saved two hundred dollars because of hubby's diverse and, never ceasing to amaze me, mechanical ingenuity. He really is quite diversified.

The kids' homework thrown aside, we rush to the store to pick up the last minute perishables for the dinner that night. Salad, dressing, and bread get shoved into a cart and hastily rushed through check out only to find we are late. The decorations are only half up and guests will arrive in twenty minutes.

It takes twenty five to get to the church.

Luckily I have a co-hostess for the event. She has wisely stuffed half my decorations in a classroom and finished setting up what was pulled out. her husband spent hours setting up the giant crepe paper spider web that hangs over all the tables. It is fantastic and adds an ambiance that is perfect.

Salad is thrown in the mammoth bowl and rushed to the table with the skeleton hand claw tongs only to find that the ranch is missing. Hubby takes off with the girls. I was needed to start labeling chili and cornbread for the contests. The judges would be eating out of numbered bowls and each crock needed to be filed and listed properly.

I am halfway through numbering the bowls when I frown. I'm a little upset to think we can judge the chili, but we weren't allowed to pass out best costume awards. In fact I'm really upset as I had some cute light up hats I could pass out for the four winners.

I sigh and finish cataloging the chili grudgingly.

A seventeen year old wins second place with her first ever chili. It was really good I remember. She should have won first. The other one had too many beans.

I am in severe pain despite the many pills I had taken, so hubby takes the girls on the walk around to the cars outside. As I hand over the camera I beg him to take lots of pictures of the girls. He rushes off with a kiss, promising me.

An hour later I'm wondering why I'm looking at photos of people's trunks. Some didn't even decorate.

Flicking through them I immediately ask "Where are the girls?"

I don't get an answer as he rushes off to help cleanup, grumbling that someone took his food while he was away. He wasn't finished yet apparently. I honestly don't even remember anyone removing it. They were very good.

We stay until ten thirty packing up the decorations and mopping the floor. We are the last to leave in my effort not to feel too guilty about not being the first to arrive. I take the time to properly sort the decorations into the totes. They will be able to go straight to the basement when we get home.

Home at last, I remember the appointment I made earlier to call a friend to discuss the giant package I received in the mail that day. Apparently it is my birthday present and I can't open it until she is on the other line to 'explain' it for me. The highlight of my day, I find not just fascinating treasures for myself, but a few things to add to my ever growing girls' wardrobes. But even better, I'm sitting down and relaxing. My friend is pleasant company.

Too tired to push an all niter, I reluctantly say goodbye and crawl upstairs. I don't even remember falling asleep. It was a long night.

Note to self: don't be in pain, and watch the car for possible attempts of self inflicted treachery in efforts to ruin parties.

The van tried hard, but I had fun in spite of its ill-timed shenanigans. I have my own power to rise above. And the next day was my birthday, so I may have used those powers a little on my behalf! ;)

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Oh, and on a side note, the girls still have plenty of room to roam around in the basement after those nasty totes were stacked beautifully away. Success!

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