The girls slept in their own room, layed out like a Thanksgiving turkey and what does their mother do? Well open a window, of course. What else? Yes I had a blazing fire and a window open to let in some of that cold Mass air. Then I got down to my shirt and socks and crawled under the huge comforter. Quite comfy, thank you very much! Wonderful dreams ensued(and no, you don't get to know everything)!

NOTE: See MyKi, very non-scary here!

The only reason we woke up is that wind had gotten up and slammed the window shut with a loud bang. Which of course caused Alyssa to scream like a banshee. This led to me leaping out of the bed like it was on fire just in time for the male owner to come charging into the room thinking something was wrong. (Now where do you think he got an idea like that?) Of course I'm standing in the middle of this wonderfully warm room with my hair in that state of nap-dom and wearing nothing but a broadcloth shirt that barely touched my stomach, underwear and woolen socks that clung to my ankles. Yes indeedy, he left as quick as he came in.(But he did ask if we were all right through the door.)

But then the girls had run into that room asking, "What was that?" and "Mommy why are you dressed like that?" and "Who was that man?" Grumbles of 'Nothing' and 'Never mind' and "Nobody'come to mind.

By the time we met up with my other family members, they all knew about me and my clothing or lack of it. Even though I spent a good 15 minutes instructing my lovely quiet 10 yr old to SHUT UP in in a more kindly parental fashion. Didn't work. :(

It never does so I wasn't really surprised at becoming the brunt of family jokes for the majority of the evening. But when the older cousins began reminiscing with stories of when I was barely able to remember even doing...well we called a halt to that party pretty quickly.

Evening fell and we had dinner across the street from the Salem Witch Museum. Did I mention that I was a big history student? You need to be in Salem whether it's Halloween or 4th of July. Even our waitress had stories to tell us about certain ghosts or how her family was related to one of the witches that was hung.I think everyone is Salem must either be related to an author, a judge or a witch. And then there was the maritime stories which were about as good as the ghost/witch stories.

Salem Trollies

I was able to play catch up with relatives I only get to see on a rarity. I told them what was happening to me recently which started a banter of advice both good and not so good. Of course what's a good family gossip section without, 'Does your mother know about this?' and 'If your grandmother were here.' Some of my cousins who were closer to my age and were my playmates as a child knew that I wasn't telling everything. And I got pummeled with questions. None that I answered readily; at least for thier tastes.

The Salem 'Friendship' near the Maritime Museum

I broke it up by announcing that it was time to go to the Salem witch museum.Although several older relatives objected to taking the girls to the witch museum, I thought it was something that they needed to see..especially Alyssa. Alyssa does have a rose colored view on things and even though that is wonderful for a 10 year old, I believe that she needs to see that being a witch wasn't and isn't all that glamourous and cheery. Humans can be kind and good and can also be devious and bad. The woman who runs the Salem Witch Museum had informed me that she had done many a tour for local schools. She wouldn't sugar coat it but niether would she scare them to death. The point of the museum was accuracy and truth but not to the point of turning it into a horror movie. "There's enough around Salem to accomplish that without my contribution", she told me.

Overall, neither of them were scared out of their wits but I think they were glad to leave for more lighter events. We dropped them off at Salem's Children's Halloween Ball with a few of their teenaged cousins. I don't even think I was an afterthought.

We ventured towards a walking tour of Salem which was mostly a 'see the ghosts of Salem' type event. Didn't see any ghosts although one or two 20-something girls thought they did. But the walk through the historic district was something to behold.

And then we were off to the Witches' Ball.....but alas this is getting a bit long and tomorrow is another day.