Halloween

In the event that our boys did not get enough candy from Sea World's Halloween Spooktacular (IMO, it was a decent amount-an appetizer), we set them loose in the neighborhood Wednesday night.

Our usual MO for Halloween is to set off soon after dark, the four of us traversing the neighborhood in search of treats. Once we returned, we'd hand out candy until we ran out. This year, thanks to my lovely leg, Ed and I decided that I'd stay home to hand out treats while he took Harry Potter and Jango Fett around.

Thanks to daylight savings time being pushed back a week, the clock approached, then passed 6 pm without dimming the sky. That just feels weird. It is supposed to be dark when you trick or treat, don't you think? This was especially ingrained thanks to our established trick or treat times back in Maryland (6:30 to 8:30pm).

Once it felt suitably dusk like, I grabbed a camp chair and table and set up outside. The boombox was playing the Halloween play list that I'd made on the iPod (Ed thought some of the stuff was too 'friendly' for Halloween). I had a big That'sa Bowl full of treats, but fear that I'd run out was in my head. We only handed out treats half of the time the previous years and nearly ran out each time. What happens when you're handing them out the whole time?

Our neighbors across the street had a haunted house set up in their garage. We'd been over to see the progress, but not the whole elaborate setup. Ed and the boys went over there first and wound up trick or treating with Chef's buddy E.

Most of our visitors were polite, a few looked at my nearly full bowl and back at me as if to say "You've got all that, give me more!" I held my sarcastic comments and just stared them down. Don't try that stuff with me-I'm not your parent. (hmm, perhaps I'll do fine in that teaching thing?). As Ed was out with the boys, I wasn't sure if it was because we were giving out Snickers, M&Ms, Nestle Crunch, Hershey bars and other assorted chocolates. That's one thing that Ed and I firmly agree on-big bags of the good chocolate candy from Costco.

We'd picked up some mini bags of Goldfish and I thought they'd be a good alternative for those younger kids when their parents thought they'd like an option. However, it was a surprise to have the middle school set saying "Oh, can I have the Goldfish?" Maybe parents stop buying them at a certain age and the nostalgia kicked in.

I still have to get used to this Florida thing, where the bugs are biting on Halloween. I'd been smart and put on a pair of jeans, even though the weather was above 80 degrees (side note: my one long pair of jeans is two sizes too big). When you're sitting in one place at dusk, the bugs are saying "LUNCH"! So much for working my Halloween tshirt. I went inside, and despite the heat outside, put on a jacket to escape the bugs. I'm sporting about two dozen mosquito bites today. I can only imagine how much worse it would be if I hadn't put the jacket on. [If you're there saying 'wah wah wah, cry me a river' we beat the retirement rush so nanny nanny boo boo]

My crew returned around 7:15 or so. It seemed like the trick or treating died off around that time. We had maybe 60 or 70 kids, and nearly half of that was kids who were driven in to the neighborhood. If they're saying trick or treat, I don't mind-perhaps they don't have the opportunity at home.

The big surprise was that more than half the bowl of treats remained. Once we swapped out chocolate for Gameboy's verboten items, we still had a bunch of stuff left. That's good, I suppose-it means I won't feel the urge to raid their candy this year. The final tally was about 50-50% between chocolate and non chocolate. Except for a few duds and a bible tract, the non chocolate was good. It looks like 3 or 4 houses bought the crap from the dollar store, thankfully.

Chef Jr loves his candy. In years past, we've been able to parcel it out a piece at a time to the point where they still have Halloween candy nearly until Valentine's day. Somehow, I don't think that will be the case this year. The child wanted to hide his pumpkin in his room. No way, Jose! I know him, a piece or three when he gets up, some after school, some after dinner, some before bed, too! That boy does not need more sugar!

Meanwhile, now that Halloween is over, it just means Gameboy will ramp up his numerous requests for games this Christmas. Isn't that what Halloween is all about-getting small treats as a precursor for the big ones?