Candy Carnage

Halloween is over, and that means it's time to dip into the huge supply of candy my kids collected October 31st.  Before I attempt to eat all of their chocolate without them knowing, I have a few wandering thoughts about Halloween:

• Where have all the Reese's peanut butter cups gone?  Are candy givers more in tune to the peanut allergies many kids have, and thus decided not to risk tossing peanut butter cups to ghouls & goblins?  Between my two kids, there were 3 peanut butter cups in evidence.  I couldn't pilfer one without it being noticeable, and was given one out of pity by my daughter.  I'll have to buy my own bag, next time, I guess. Last year, I was able to eat a whole bunch of Reese's peanut butter cups without the kids missing a single one.
• Windy, wintry weather kept lots of kids from trick-or-treating in some neighborhoods this year.  My own were on grandpa & grandma's street, going door-to-door with out-of-town cousins.  My mom had lots of candy left over, unlike in previous years.
• On our street, where my husband stayed to hand out candy to the multitudes, there were at least 400 kids who came through. Some on foot from the neighborhood, some by the carload.  My husband ran out of candy and tapped into my personal stash of Hershey Kisses before turning out the light and calling it a night.
• Across the road, in a neighborhood just like ours, there were only 30 trick-or-treaters who visited a friend's door.
• Clark bars have always signified Halloween to me, along with that nasty, stale, hard as a rock Double Bubble and Bazooka gum. 
• Nobody gave popcorn balls or apples this year.
• No sign of pennies, either.  When I was a kid, there were a few people who would toss a few pennies into the candy bag of each trick-or-treater.
• I saw fewer adults trying for free candy this year.  A few adults, well past the teen years, wore only masks and street clothes came to our door.  My husband heckled them openly for their lack of anything festive beyond the mask.  "They didn't even bring a bag for the candy," he said.  "What, do ya wanna come in and shower while you're here? Anything else ya forget?" he asked.  One beggar came to the door with a winter scarf covering the lower half of her face. No mask, no costume. Sheesh, give it up, people.
• Upper-elementary aged boys have no qualms about dressing up as girls for Halloween.  It's nice that they're so secure in their sexuality that putting on a dress and high heels and a wig doesn't phase them.  It's also refreshing that their classmates didn't greet them with rude names, too.  Had we been of a size, I'd have asked to borrow the one boy's dress.  Too bad for me!
• I'm really bummed that it rained Friday, October 30th, and the grade school kids were unable to have their traditional Halloween parade through the streets near the school.  Instead, we paraded for a handful of parents who lined the gym-a-teria (or is it a cafe-nasium?) to glimpse their child in costume.
• My middle-school-aged daughter was really bummed that once you hit middle school, you don't get to wear your costume to school.  But, if you go to the after school dance, you can costume up then.
• The funniest thing that happened while trick-or-treating was a youngster who was racing ahead of the rest, to have her mother say, "Slow down!"  The youngster stopped, struck the 'aw mom' pose and said, "But MOooOOM, I JUST wanna GET this OVER with!"  Mom was poking fun at how awful it was to be given free candy just for wearing a costume and hollering "trick-or-treat."  "But MooOOOom," the girl responded, "MY FEET ARE NUMB!"
• Windy, wintry weather descended October 31st, here in mid-Michigan.  My brother and I reminisced about past Halloweens.  It was either 80 degrees, or we wore winter coats.  Winter coats were always unzipped so people could see that we had a costume on.  Numb and shivering, we'd race house to house, where we'd eagerly fight for a foothold on the porch or steps, holding out our plastic pumpkins or pillowcases for a treat.  Neighborhood kids always got a plastic baggie of treats, whereas interlopers got the standard 1-2 pieces of candy.
• I enjoyed dressing up for Halloween. As a staff member at an elementary school, a theme is decided on and we're off and running. It was rather amusing too, to dash about town in my mad scientist/Igor get-up and see the responses from strangers.  Driving by in the car and passing people, while you're in costume, is also worth a laugh.

Happy Halloween, everyone.  By Thanksgiving day, when you're sick of all that candy left at your house, check for peanut butter cups. If you have any left - send them to me!