Trick Or Treat

Well, this is it. Halloween. It is now 8:22pm and all the kids seem to have come and gone. I think in total we got around 20-25 kids at the most. Last year we had a couple shy of 20 if I remember correctly.

I remember as a trick or treater, we would get upwards to 150 kids on halloween. My parents were the type who hated to run out of whatever type of goodies they were handing out. They, my mom in particular, would make sure we had lots so that no kid would get turned away. If we were giving out bags of potato chips, they would get enough to pass out to 150 and then maybe get a bag of those little halloween chocolate bars "just in case". Any left overs and us kids got them, though mom and dad would make sure they got a few too. Besides, with three kids Mom and Dad didn't go without either. Dad generally got all the candy kisses that we didn't like, as well as the black licorice or those good 'n plenty things. Mom wasn't so picky and we generally let her take her pick. Dad got asked if he wanted anything too though, so he didn't just get our rejects.

I remember one year my older brother had gone out with some of his friends and they went to another sub division and one of the treats they got was a can of pop. I was so jealous!! It just wasn't fair!! Of course, I didn't go to that subdivision so I didn't get one...

Another time I almost got accused of soaping the car of one of the neighbours down the street. He was a police man, but I don't know if that was the reason his car got soaped. It just so happened that three or four kids came to their door, got their candy and then soaped the car and took off. As they were running out of the yard I was walking up to the door ringing the bell. The cop came to the door in time to see them running away from the car (I think he had seen what they had done from his window) and then asked me if I was with them. I said no (which was the truth) I didn't even know who they were and told him that. I think I was around 11 that year, and this guy was big...tall and wide and he scared me. Years later I found out he was a pretty nice guy and had babysat for him and his wife a few times.

Another time Ihappened to come to a house at the right time. They wanted to get rid of the rest of their candy because they didn't want to have to go to the door anymore (remember this was in the time when we'd get the 150 or so kids) so between me and my younger brother, we got the rest of the candy. It wasn't a huge stash, but it was a lot and we felt special.

I think one of my earliest halloween memories was when I was probably around 4 years old. That year I went as a princess and my brother as a cat. These costumes (this was the 70's) were your basic cheap plastic kind with the plastic face mask (molded into a face with plastic contored hair at the sides and crown on the top) that had a little tiny hold to breath out of, and eyes cut out that were never quite big enough. I had a plastic cape or smock type "dress" that was big enough to fit over my winter coat (we always had to wear our winter coat under our costumes to keep warm). It was really basic, but plenty good enough for a 4 year old. My brother's costume was the same thing: plastic mask in the shape of a cat's face, and his smock type garment had the outline of a black cat on it. Anyway, I digress. I recall at one house saying "I am a princess, and this is my cat." The people thought it was so cute...I wonder if they gave us extra treats? Somehow I doubt it...but that leads me to my next thought.

Tonight at one of the times I had answered the door, there were two little girls, presumably sisters, and mom and dad (who were just there to help). The older girl looked to be about 4 years old and she was dressed up in a lion costume. She was so adorable! This looked to be the same costume my 2 year old nephew would be wearing tonight, but I know that he would look way cuter (ok, so I'm biased...). Her sister looked to be not much older than 1 and she was in a dolphin costume...waaaayyyyy adorable!! We were handing out those little chocolate bars, and were giving 2 to each kid. I got down on their level and said to the older girl "Wow, what a scary looking lion you are!" She smiled and I gave her the treats...at which point she said "trick or treat thank you." Then the little one, the one with huge chubby cheeks you just want to pinch, says some undistinguishable words and melted my heart. I held out the two bars so that she could take them from me as daddy had her little bucket. I told her how sweet she looked and then her mom told her to say thank you. She looked up at me with a big grin and says, "saa soo".

Now, (remember previously when I said I thought the people should have given me extra candy for being so cute?) that made me just want to run over to her and give her more chocolate bars, just because she said that...it was sooo cute!!! However, I didn't. I resisted the urge. Instead, I turned into that horrible monster that appears at anytime of the year, not just halloween; I turned into the "I Am Selfish And I Want Chocolate Monster". Pretty scary when you think about it.