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.