Tricker Treat!

No, that's not a misspelling. That's exactly what my 4-year old son has been saying all day. Cade doesn't understand that upon the opening of the door he just knocked on, he's supposed to be giving the occupant an option of Trick or Treat. I guess these days the treats are expected so no one really plans what kind of trick to play.

As I walked around with Cade and Mallorie tonight...yes, I said Mallorie, and yes, she is 14 years old. She wanted to go and I agreed, as long as she wore a costume. (I always took exception to the obvious teenagers that wouldn't even bother with a disguise, but had no qualms about holding out their bags for my candy.) She put on her pajama bottoms, wore her purple fuzzy bathrobe and fluffy slippers. I had to agree to no photos if she wore her hair in pigtails. After listening to her gripe about the pigtails I decided against drawing freckles on her....

As I walked around with Cade and Mallorie tonight, I was struck by how much each has grown. Mallorie was an excellent big sister. She watched out for Cade, let him ring the doorbells and made sure he said his thank yous before heading to the next house. Cade practically flew from one house to another, and I got tickled listening to him shout "Tricker Treat!" This Halloween Cade's bag pooped out long before his legs did.

Huge bowls of candy were left out on the stoops at about a third of the houses we visited tonight. I found this occurrence extremely interesting. Do people really feel that obligated to provide candy to the annual trick or treaters? Some inhabitants were clearly not at home, but apparently still felt it necessary to leave the porch light on and a bowl of candy on the steps. Or are some people so lazy that they can't get up and answer the door to feign fright and/or excitement at the sight of monsters, princesses/ballerinas, superheroes, pirates, and animals? Some inhabitants were clearly home...you could see socked feet propped up by the Lazy Boy and the TV blaring. Obligated and/or anti-social. I'll be interested to see if this "trend" spreads next year.

Still, no matter how Cade and Mallorie received their candy, this year they received quality candy. Following ancient family tradition when we returned home we dumped out the contents of both bags (in separate piles...the earth's rotation would surely halt if Cade's and Mallorie's candy got mixed) and we took out all the crap candy. Oh, come on. You know the crap candy....the caramel cubes, the black and orange chewy wrapped (peanut butter??)candy, the no-name chocolate disguised in foil as pumpkins, Frankensteins, and eyeballs. Oh, and the hard candy in the cellophane wrappers. Last year the crap candy ended up in a ziploc bag and brought in to work in January. This year there were less than 10 pieces of crap candy. Now that's progress!

Here are the Tricker Treaters with their bounty.