remember, remember the 5th of November

 
As I write this post, there is the sound of fireworks right outside my window, which is so familiar at this time of year in England. For those of you who read this blog who are not British, every year on the 5th November, we celebrate Guy Fawkes Night - on this very day in 1605, Guy Fawkes was arrested, trying to blow up the House of Lords with a whole lot of gunpowder. The King of England survived, thanks to the arrest of Mr. Fawkes, and ever since, the 5th November has marked the celebration of thanksgiving that his plot failed. 

Although in all honesty, the occasion is now focused on having a whole lot of fun with fireworks, lighting up the sky in all their prettyness (and scaring all of the cats & dogs in England). Our church held its first ever bonfire party in Long Ashton (the village where we held our wedding reception). My husband had the official role of firer, in other words, he was responsible for setting off all the fireworks, along with our good friend Ben (photographer extraordinaire, by the way). 

We arrived while the sky was still brilliantly blue, and the moon had started shining, to set up the fireworks & candles to light the way.

It was so fun to spend the evening with good friends, old and new, celebrating in the beauty of the fireworks, enjoying the warmth of the great big bonfire, and playing with sparklers (what a brilliant invention!), oh, and eating hot dogs & mini marshmallows. Yummy yum yum.

 John looks on intently at his babies  fireworks that he took such good care of.

 light cirles (also known as bokeh) make me very happy

Mrs. Hannah Poulson thought the sparklers were just a little bit awesome (just like she is)

The night ended with some fire breathing by Ben and his housemate Dave. The children thought they were astounding, calling out, 'do it again! do it again!' over and over. (The adults thought they were pretty good too!)