I've written about Halloweens past before--about how it is my brother's now-posthumous birthday, how things were when I was a kid, even the stupid Halloween eye-flashing bat wreath I put on the door for the "holiday", blah, blah. This year, once again all alone in the house, I just focused on the kids who came to the door.
I don't do as much for Halloween as I used to. Without family here, I don't carve pumpkins anymore. Instead, I've opted for the foam jack-o-lanterns with the light bulbs inside. I do put batteries in the bat wreath, rake the ample leaves from the front of the door, and make sure the candy bowl is filled. Then I turn on the outside light and wait for the ghoulies and ghosties and three-leggedy beasties to knock on my door. It helps that my computer spot in the house is now right next to the door. Less walking that way!!
For the most part, the really little kids are clueless. All they know is that they get to dress up in whatever costume they want and collect free candy for their cuteness. Here are the highlights of my experience last night:
1. I make the kids say "trick or treat" before I will give them anything. Last night, one little guy forgot to say it, so I prompted him: "What do you say?" He thought for a second and started spouting what he thought I wanted to hear: "Please? Thank you?" He'd been coached, bless his heart!
2. Once they say "trick or treat", I always say, "Well, I don't want any tricks so I guess I should give you a treat!" I'd say that 99% of the marauding children have no clue about the history of the phrase "trick or treat". Nothing like the earlier days when children threatened the phrase as an excuse for getting candy. Now it's just an expression. That's probably a good thing!
3. One dad came with three of his kids. The littlest one--maybe 5 years old-- saw me give his sister a candy bracelet. I had a Tootsie Roll for him, but the boy said, "I want a candy bracelet! I want a candy bracelet!" The dad, embarrassed, started to stop him...but I had candy bracelets and there was no reason why he couldn't have one just like his sister. I gave him a candy bracelet. I expect the young lad heard about that after they left my doorway!
4. As I am dropping candy in their bags or buckets, I always try to guess what their costume is. "Let's see...you're Spiderman...you're a princess...you're a ghost." Last night, I couldn't guess the costume of the last little guy in a group of three, so I said, "And who are you?" He looked up at me in all innocence and said, "Greg". It totally cracked me up!
Oh...and I was corrected with another costume. "You're Batman," I said. One of the child's companions indignantly responded, "She's Bat GIRL!". I had the gender wrong. In my own senile defense, I'm not sure there is such a critter as Batgirl, and I'm not sure how I was supposed to tell when her hair was pulled back in braids and hidden under a Batman headdress. Sheesh!
5. When the kids knock, they sometimes don't know enough to step back from the door so I can open it to give them their treats. And when they do take a step back, they forget that they had to step UP on my stoop to knock. I always have to watch to make sure someone doesn't get hurt by accidentally stepping backwards off the stoop---especially the real little ones. Then, too, I customarily put the candy in their containers myself, rather than into their hands. Most of them know to hold their bags or buckets open for me to do that. Last night, one really little guy stayed behind the door while his siblings were taking up the stoop space in front of the door opening. When they left the doorway, he stayed back there waiting for his treat. I was encouraging him to present his bucket at the door opening because I couldn't see him OR his bucket where he was and couldn't open the door any wider for fear of knocking him off the stoop. But I knew he was there. How? Around the edge of the door opening, there appeared a disembodied little hand with chubby fingers wiggling to be filled with a piece of candy. Oh...they learn early, don't they??? It tickled me.
With more than an hour of trick or treat time left, the rain started and the door knocking came to a halt. Halloween 2015 is in the books. On to the next holiday!