Halloween

So it's no lie, but Halloween is my favorite holiday.  I love it.  I also love fall, and autumn in Colorado, with our yellow aspen trees and crisp mountain air is a lovely place to be in October.  However, this year I'm so far down South that for the first time ever I am experiencing spring instead of fall.  Tree buds instead of pumpkins.  Never ending cups of coffee instead of cider. No overpriced haunted houses or terror movies.  No pumpkin pie for me this year.  Halloween is not a big deal here, I've seen a few Cotillon's (mini shops that sell party supplies) advertising rubber masks and candy pails.  My younger students who attend international British or American schools tell me that their classes plan on having parties.  This month I have decided to take it upon myself to teach my students about the Halloween traditions, customs and fun that we experience in the US.  We are watching videos, reading about the Salem Witch Trials and filling out silly Halloween crossword puzzles.  I show the older ones photos of my family and I during the Denver Zombie Crawl.  They stare at me as if I am nuts.  I guess I am, who else dresses up like a zombie nanny, spend hours painting a doll and then walks in the middle of downtown Denver with a chiweenie dressed as a hotdog?  Me.