Halloween

There's been a lot of blogging on Halloween these days. I'll revisit the philosophical issues later, if I can find something interesting to say that hasn't been said already, or possibly I'll just direct whoever's reading here to some of my favorite posts elsewhere.

Anyway, I just read over at Catholic Packer Fan about his family's Halloween, which sounds a LOT like mine.

There is mention of big kids with no costumes. That's something that really drives me bananas. It doesn't happen here much, but it happened in the town we moved from 8 years ago. We saw a lot of teenagers without costumes or even a mask--just a pillowcase or backpack.

The first year, I just asked them where their costume was while giving them a piece of candy.

The next year, I was ready for my own private revenge. I had TWO bowls of candy to give out: one for anyone who wore a costume, and one for the "we're too cool for costumes but still want free candy" crowd.

Having taught in middle school and high school, I am well aware of the usefulness of Jolly Rancher candy to the students who like to sneak a little something sweet during class. They do not all know that Jolly Rancher makes "Fire Stix" which are cinnamon flavored and, well, not as hot as an Atomic Fireball, but still pack a good punch. But they're red, like Cherry Stix.



I gave any costume-free teenagers a nice handful of Fire Stix that year, and they were thrilled to get them. I was thanked profusely, and I smiled as I savored the thought of what would happen when they tried to sneak one of THOSE in math class the next morning.