Trick o' Treat

I am not a huge fan of Halloween. Don't get me wrong, I love dressing up in costume, especially when it involves a long wig since my hair is so short, but I do not enjoy staying home and handing out candy to neighborhood kids. Originally my husband was supposed to be on door duty, but he hurt his back this weekend and could barely bend over to give the kids candy...convenient, huh?

I feel like it goes the same every year: the first hour it is all the cute little kids, with their parents telling them what to say from the sidewalk. These are the kids I love to see, the ones who are so excited to be dressed up, and are truly thrilled to be trick o' treating. They have been taught by their parents to be polite and always say thank you when you drop come candy in their bags (which are still Halloween themed at this point). It was only about 30 degrees out in Boston last night, so all these little munchkins are bundled under their costumes with turtlenecks and sweat pants, making it hard for them to walk normal. So cute.

My only problem with this first group are the parents of babies, who dress up their child that can't yet walk, put them in a stroller and actually go trick o' treating to collect candy for themselves! This really grinds my gears (as Peter Griffen says). I had one mother last night come to my door with her baby dressed as a ladybug sound asleep in the stroller. She proceeded to walk to my door (while leaving her kid at the base of the two stairs you have to walk up to get to my door and put out a bag for candy! And no, the mother was not in costume either. Obviously this baby is not going to eat the candy, and is not getting any joy out of this night, so why doesn't this woman just go out and buy herself her own candy!! Ugh - getting myself fired up just thinking about it. I wanted to say, what are you dressed up like tonight lady? A neglectful mother? What is this baby doing out in 30 degree weather!!

As the night goes on it is the same thing every year...the costumes get less elaborate (just a wig is not a costume), the kids get older (and ruder), and parents are few and far between. Gone are the Halloween themed candy bags, which have been replaced by plastic shopping bags or pillowcases. No one says trick o' treat, and you are lucky to hear a "thank you." It is all about getting as much candy as you possibly can now. I had one group of about 20 pimply faced kids at once, pushing each other towards the door, who were supposedly all dressed as Jersey Shore characters. I looked at them before I gave out candy and said "who are you guys supposed to be?" and they responded with Snooki! Pauly D! Sitch! I am sorry, but sunglasses do not make a Situation costume!! I do have to give props to the boy in the mini dress with the wig and poof ala Snooki. He got two pieces of candy.

I knew it was time to close up shop when at 8:00 the doorbell rang and there were two 16-ish year old boys dressed in black hoodies and jeans. They were costume-less, and had back packs on the front of their bodies that they were collecting candy in. I opened the door and said "hello" and the one shorter kid said with a deep voice "Damn, this is a nice house..." as he looked around my body at the interior of our house, like he was casing the joint. "Thanks?" I said and put a handful of candy in each other their backpacks, as I wanted to just get rid of as much as I could at this point. When I put it in the second kids back pack I noticed that he was quite a good looking kid, and I started to blush like a fool, and he winked at me. No joke, he winked at the old lady handing him candy.

No wonder he had so much candy in that back pack!!