It’s the day after Halloween and I’m exhausted!

Halloween is finally over with and done for another year!

Hasta la vista, baby!

Sure, I’m tired but I’m feeling mellow, I’m chillin’…

Because it’s the day after Halloween!

And I reassure myself, “They will grow out of it. They will get too big for costumes and candy highs and trick-or-treating!”

Won’t they?

Nevertheless, I’m so relaxed today that I didn’t even get aggravated or upset when I arrived at daycare with Kenzie and realized they were taking Christmas pictures.

And I forgot to bring her clothes for Christmas pictures.

In fact, I have been so caught up in Halloween that I didn’t remember the day after Halloween was the day they were taking Christmas pictures at school!

But I’m not worrying about it. I just attribute my forgetfulness to the after-effects of another exhausting Halloween celebration.

Sort of like a Halloween hangover!

And they were taking pictures first thing in the morning, so I have to run right back home and get her Christmas picture clothes.

But I’m cool, calm, collected…

Because it’s the day after Halloween!

I don’t utter a single complaint, no gripes or whines from me today!

I just placidly turn the car around and drive all the way back home (ten miles one way) to pick up her Christmas picture clothes and take them back to daycare.

Nothing can get to me today…

Because it’s the day after Halloween.

I made it through Halloween, so I can handle anything today!

No more…

• searching online late at night, asking opinions, looking through magazines,  going from store to store shopping for the perfect Halloween costumes for the toddlers;
• buying treats, party favors, refreshments, and other supplies for the toddlers’ Halloween parties at school;
• buying candy, more candy, and more candy to contribute to the carnivals at school, at daycare, at church;
• running between Halloween parties at school and daycare and meetings at work;
• attending crowded Halloween carnivals and fall festivals that are supposed to be alternatives to trick-or-treating, yet you still take the children trick-or-treating;
• trick or treating and yelling at the toddlers to quit grabbing all the candy out of the bowl and only take what is offered, to quit pressing on people’s doorbell when the home’s residents are standing right there, and to stop going inside people’s homes when they open the door;
• trying to control toddlers with sugar highs who are whining and crying for more candy;
• telling tired, crying toddlers they can’t have more candy;
• trying to find places to hide candy from then toddlers and then giving up and throwing it all away (it’s like buying a bunch of candy just so you can throw it away);

…for another year.

Why don’t we just declare Halloween a national holiday?

But let’s call it Kid’s Costume Day or Trick-or-Treat Day and forget about all the ghosts, goblins, witches, zombies, and other scary stuff.

I mean, if we’re required to put this much time and effort into one celebration, at least it ought to be a national holiday!

And then we can get the day off from work instead of having to take a day off to do all the Halloween activities with the kids!

And maybe even make the new holiday occur near the weekend. Then we can have a holiday with a long weekend so we can have time to recover from Halloween hangover!

P.S. And while we’re declaring national holidays, why don’t we just go ahead and declare the day after Halloween the first shopping day for Christmas and give everybody the day off to start their Christmas shopping?