Last year for Halloween I bought several bags of candy for trick-or-treaters. It was the first Halloween spent in my townhome, and I had no idea how many trick-or-treaters I would get. My grand total for the evening was zero. Not a single doorbell ring! I had the front porch light on and even a jack-o-lantern on the porch, but no one came to the door. This year, to be on the safe side, I bought candy anyway, and I'm glad I did. I'll bet my doorbell rang five or six times! And there was with no jack-o-lantern on the porch this year.
I remember years in the past when I couldn't even sit down between doorbell rings. There would be literally hundreds of children coming to the door. I don't know if the dwindling numbers are due to now living in an area where there are fewer children or because fewer children are trick-or-treating. It is likely a combination of the two.
Despite all the criticism of the practice of trick-or-treating, I still think it's fun. I enjoy seeing the children's costumes and their excitement. I hope all the safety issues and its opponents don't stop it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Well, here is my experience last night with the trick or treaters. We had a huge bowl of candy available. A few little pre-schoolers -- cute as can be -- came by before 6:30. After that, just a trickle until about 8 p.m. when the teenagers hit! They came in groups and grabbed hands full of candy. I finally greeted groups with a pleasant, "You may pick you two favorite candies." That didn't work so I quit answering the doorbell. Several groups came by and rang the doorbell repeatedly and banged loudly on the door when that didn't work. THEN, some person rang the doorbell solidly for 5 full minutes. I was furious and determined NOT to answer the door.
The coup de grace, though, came as I was closing up for the night. The doorbell rang and I could see it was a mom with a little elementary school-aged girl. I went to the door and, speaking to the little girl said, "You my pick out your two favorite candies." She paused in indecision. Her mother reached out with both hands and grabbed HUGE big handsful of candy and dumped it into her bag with a smug grin at me. The little girl paused, looked perplexed and then started to follow her mother's example. I had had enough and said as sweetly as I could, "I said that you could only pick out two of your favorites." She did that and they left. A car was waiting for them -- they clearly were not even from our neighborhood!!! Who knows how many neighborhoods they had hit up before getting to ours.
Maybe I've turned into a scrouge, but I found the greed just repulsive!
I agree, and I'm amazed that a mother would grab candy and set such a bad example for her child. The kids, even the older ones, who came by my house last night, were well mannered, and all but two had their parents waiting for them on the sidewalk. Another thing I noticed is that ALL of them said thank you -- even the parents! When I lived in another town near here, it was different. Car loads of kids from other neighborhoods came through our neighborhood to get treats. They were loud and rowdy.
Post a Comment