How the Grinch Stole Halloween.

I've spent the vast majority of my life living in Massachusetts, and we New Englanders are no strangers to snowstorms, but Mother Nature sure did have some tricks up her sleeve for us this Halloween.  Seriously, man, it's October....

On Saturday night, I wasn't that surprised to see big, fat flakes of snow drifting past my window because the weathermen had been warning us about it all week.  What did surprise me, was that the snow stuck, and before I knew it, we had roughly a foot on the ground.

Then the lights began to flicker, and flicker some more...and then they finally went out...for 48 hours.

As I said, in these parts a foot of snow is usually not a huge deal.  And why should a snowstorm in October be any different than a snowstorm in December, am I right?   Wrong!

You see, in October, there are still leaves on the trees.  All that snow on all those leaves makes branches very heavy.  There are broken and fallen trees everywhere!  Along with all those trees?  Fallen power lines.

We spent Saturday and Sunday night snuggling three abed Little House on the Prairie style.  We went to bed when the sun went down, and we woke up when the sun rose in the sky.  Except for the fact that our little baby takes up most of the bed when she sleeps, it wasn't that bad.  At least we were able to stay warm.

Thankfully, our power came back on Monday night, but most of the area is still out.  School has been cancelled the past two days.  Eric's off again tomorrow, and the jury is still out for my school.  Yup, we're going to be celebrating the Fourth of July from my English classroom this year, folks.

The worst part? Halloween. got. cancelled!


Some towns in the area merely postponed their Halloween festivities for another week or two, but not our town.  It's been completely cancelled.

No trick-o-treating this year. Epic sad face.

We couldn't let Madeline's costume go to waste, however.  So yesterday, as we took refuge in a local mall, as all good Americans should do, we dressed Madeline up as Winnie the Pooh.

 At the mall, I realized that we were living in a kind of reverse The Nightmare Before Christmas.  Instead of Halloween taking over Christmas, Christmas totally hijacked Halloween.

Not only is there snow on the ground, not only was trick-o-treating cancelled, but Santa's workshop was set up at the mall already.

Bah Humbug!

Don't get me wrong, I'm not against consumer-driven Christmases.  Nothing says Ho.Ho.Ho, Hallelujah Jesus like the sound of muzak Christmas Carols at the mall as I buy everything in sight, but that doesn't mean I want to give up Halloween all together....

La Sigh.

At least Madeline isn't old enough to be disappointed.  I felt bad for all the little kidlets running around the mall yesterday afternoon in their costumes knowing that there would be no real Halloween festivities for them this year.

On the bright side?  We have a whole mess of candy to keep all to ourselves.  Yum.