The best treats I saw

Last night, I walked around with the kids while the husband stayed home to pass out candy. As is tradition, we started out at a close friend's home on the other side of the neighborhood we live in, then everybody walked together toward our house. Some of us walked slower than others. My daughter touched up the costume she made last year and went as a Tardis. It's a great costume, with a ton of detail, but it's bulky and hot and she can't go up stairs or in narrow paths with it. She usually let the other kids go first, then followed after.

Anyway, when we got to our street, we did our neighbor's house next to last (our house is always last stop). I'd seen her getting ready before we left but hadn't paid too much attention. When we got there, she had a whole flock of kids on her driveway, with lots of chattering and laughter.

Turns out, she wasn't giving away candy. She was giving away BOOKS. She had boxes and boxes of them, and bags for the kids to carry what they wanted.

And these kids were in heaven. After they left, they would tell the kids approaching what they just got, inciting even more excitement. I talked to my neighborhood as our friend's two-year-old was looking at a storybook, and she said it had been like that all night.

I love that. I love how thrilled these kids were over getting books. There was no grousing about, "Where's the candy?" She gave them something to truly remember this holiday, because you just know years from now, these kids will be telling their kids, "One year, we got books..."