Friday, October 30, 2009

Halloween Eve

L tells me that today is the hardest day of the year for a 1st grade teacher. Six and seven year olds in costumes all day + candy, cupcakes, other sugary treats + great excitement about trick or treating = a very long day. Yeah, and their teachers are in costume, too. L is the Queen of Hearts. I hope she doesn't order any "off with their heads."

I don't have school today, and there were no costumes in my room yesterday; just some Edgar Allan Poe to set the mood for Halloween weekend. I sent them out the door with a box of Nerds, threats that I better not see Nerd boxes littering the grounds of Trailer High, and hopes that since they got the treats--there wouldn't be tricks. We'll see.

Several years ago, I forgot to buy candy for Halloween Trick or Treaters. At the last minute I ran to our local Casey's and bought them out of bubble gum cigars. Great treat. Promoting smoking. Wonderful. They loved them so much, some came back for seconds. *sigh*

We live on a street that is fairly well hidden and our hill is a bit of a hike, so we don't get many Trick or Treaters. Usually, we see a couple of colleagues with little ones, and a few random high school kids.

Halloween was a little odd last year. The tornado had wiped out the houses in the heart of town; these had been the most popular homes for kids to visit. Some people went back to where their home had been and handed out candy from their cars. Very sweet and kind of sad. I think a lot of parents took their kids to nearby towns.

This year there are quite a few new homes in our downtown area, so hopefully tomorrow night the streets will be full of pirates, ghosts, football players, and punk rockers. Baby steps in our return to normal.

5 comments:

ch said...

At the elementary school where I taught they always had the Halloween party first thing in the morning...then out of costumes and on with the show...a stroke of brilliance, I always thought.

Bubble gum cigars...I'll have to look into that. I think they'll appreciate it more than the packs of instant oatmeal I currently have on hand.

joyce said...

You are full of enjoyable sarcastic wit this morning! Trailer High, off with their heads, and hopes for no tricks. Seriously though, the folks who lost their homes but parked their cars there to hand out candies really hit an emotional nerve in me. How sad, brave, inspirational, thoughtful....what a wonderful community you live in!

Gayle said...

I remember bubble gum cigars and chocolate cigarettes from when I was a kid. Weird when I think of those things as being kid's candy now!

Mrs. E said...

Yes, Gayle. I was amazed to find the boxes of the white candy cigarettes--the ones with the red tips to make them look like they are lit. They still sell them. We just don't look for them very often or ever! I was trying to remember why I bought the gum cigars, and then remembered that it was about the only candy they had for a quarter a piece. The cheerleaders that year gave out the boxes of candy cigarettes with a "smoke the competition" slogan. Those were a big hit.

Rachel said...

A teacher handing out cigar candy - so funny! Nerds used to be my favorite candy growing up. I wish trick or treating was still the same as it used to be, I miss that.