The Whole Halloween Thing 2017

I try to keep it fun for my students. I do put on the semblance of a costume. I grin and bear it through the forced parade at my school, loathing the fact that I have to walk past hundreds and hundreds of parents, to be "on display." I am truly thankful for the parents who bring the party and I do wonder how much they spent! The kids absolutely LOVED the party!

However, Halloween hasn't been fun for me for years! When we were first married I rallied to buy pumpkins for our little home and make things festive, but my husband kept asking, "Why?" He doesn't have a lot of Halloween spirit either, unless someone dangles a product with the name Reese's under his nose. I would like to think things would have been oh so different had we been gifted children. I really would have taken them trick or treating. I would have thought about their costumes way ahead of time. But...no children were sent to our home, so I guess I've become a bit of a Halloween grouch.

First of all, between the parade and the party, we lose most of our instructional time on that school day. Do you realize how much stress I feel to get through the curriculum? Do you realize how much more anxiety is attached to my job then say, five or six years ago? Scores are going up, but at what price? The loss of a day of school costs me as a teacher. I can't enjoy the "soft" school day because it only makes me get further behind.

Secondly, the kids are not themselves. There's something about putting on a costume that makes them forget their manners, our procedures, and how to separate reality from fantasy. It's a trying day in terms of management. Couple this with the consumption of a lot of sugar, and the emotional anticipation of heading out after school to beg for even more sugar...well, I've lost them you see.

Last of all, ...I originally wrote a lot here, but decided I could get in trouble if the wrong people happened to read it, so in the interest of staying off the evening news, I'm taking it down. It's come to that. You can't really be your real self on your own blog. No, not if it's public. And no, not if only 17 people read it.

And I don't know why I never put this together before, but it smacked me in the face this year, after my cousin posted a photo of herself with her siblings in their costumes as children, that there is not one single Halloween photo of me or any of my five sisters anywhere in existence...because my parents never took a picture. They never did much for Halloween either. I don't remember trick or treating more than twice perhaps and I don't remember anything about costumes other than perhaps buying one at the store once. I have no memories of being a witch or a fairy or anything at all. Don't worry, they were great parents in many ways, but nobody doted on us for Halloween. I'm sure they were working at their store until it closed at 8:00 p.m. I do remember one year Mom and Dad came home from the store after they closed at 8:00 p.m. Pumpkins had been purchased for us, but we hadn't done anything with them. It was too late to trick or treat so my dad said, "Girls, we're going to carve pumpkins!" Kudos to him for trying to make things at least a little festive, but even as a child I distinctly remember thinking, "It's too late. Halloween is over. Why bother?" I dutifully sat on the kitchen floor scooping all the guts out of my pumpkin, going along with the whole thing, just like I go along with it every year at my elementary school. Parents, the way you spin something to your child really DOES matter. It really sets a tone.

After school, I ran to the hospital for my mammogram. They were giving out chocolate truffles and compact mirrors. Then I ran home to pick up my husband and off to the temple we drove to be proxies for my aunt and uncle (baptisms for the dead). We were the only patrons at the font. It was a great experience! Then we went to the Olive Garden where we were seated immediately and served immediately by Oscar. We ate well and used a gift card. Then we went shopping at Kohl's. We were the only customers in the entire store and loved having the place to ourselves. So relaxing. So there. My professors told us there would be no class, so for once, I had a free night--no class, no church meetings, no scouting...finally! A chance to shop once. Halloween ended on a great note! I'll keep trying to get used to it.