partly lame, partly awesome Halloween

We knew ahead of time that we were not going to be taking our 7 1/2 month old trick or treating.  Really, what's the point?  He can't eat the candy and we knew we'd have plenty left over of our own so it's not like we needed the temptation to eat poorly just sitting there, taunting us. 

We dressed Theodore in his little bat outfit and when 6pm rolled around, we waited.

And waited.

And waited.

I don't think we had our first trick-or-treater until about 6:45 or 7pm.  And trick-or-treating was only supposed to last from 6-8pm.  It's not that we were surprised...I guess every year we just hope that there are more kids than the year before.  We had maybe a dozen kids.  And I think the last one came by 7:30pm.  It wasn't even completely dark.  What in the world has happened to trick-or-treating?  It's just kind of sad and depressing.

It was SUCH a big deal when I was a kid.  It was always so exciting to wait until dark and then go up and down the streets in your very own neighborhood.  The streets were lined with heroes and gypsies and monsters and princesses.  It was fun seeing everyone else's costumes.  Comparing candy at the end of the night.  Eating it for the next month and a half 'til all that was left were Smarties and individually wrapped Double Bubble.  Now?  Now, we're lucky to get a dozen kids.  And in the past it has seemed like half of them were middle schoolers wearing their j.v. football jerseys with jeans and a hoodie.  At least this year, we didn't have any of those costumes.

We did take Theo to the neighbors' so they could see him in his not-so-scary bat costume.  They appreciated the gesture so that was fun.  (They had individually wrapped Double Bubble and Smarties.  No lie.)

I don't know why but I just want to fight back.  But how can you compete with the malls and the churches and all those other "safer" options?  We left our light on until 9pm hoping there were some stragglers, but there weren't.  The streets were pitch black and it looked like any other chilly autumn Sunday night. 

My mom told me last week that when she was a kid, they did trick-or-treating for two nights instead of one.  She said that my grandma trick-or-treated for a whole week!?!  Now it's down to 2 hours in the broad daylight.  Is there going to be anything left for Theo by the time he's old enough to enjoy it?  Or will he just have to envision it through his mom and dad's memories? 

I try to justify it by saying that our neighborhood is full of mostly-elderly folks and there are very few street lamps so it is dark when the sun goes down.  There are no sidewalks.  The houses are further apart and the driveways are longer in our subdivision than they are in the newer, cookie-cutter editions.  But there are also 100 foot tall trees with leaves cascading in beautiful fall colors.  There are jack-o-lanterns or at least pumpkins on most front porches.  To me, it seems like a traditional, idyllic place to go trick-or-treating in the midwest. 

Apparently I'm in the minority.

Regardless, we had fun playing with our baby bat and letting him "help" us pass out candy to the few cute kids that bothered to dress up and trek around the neighborhood. 

On a random, unrelated note, I was craving meatball subs like mama makes so we went to the store and got the ingredients to prepare them for lunch.  Can't have them without pickles and Provolone or Mozzarella cheese (I chose Provolone).  Amazing.  We had spaghetti and meatballs for dinner.  Equally as amazing.  It hit the spot on a chilly fall day.  I love, love, love comfort food.  Theo also ate the equivalent of about one meatball for dinner, which he enjoyed thoroughly!  (Much more than the green bean pureed baby food we tried to make him eat for lunch).  He might be just about sick of baby food already.  He's always reaching for our plates.  Can't say I blame him (although some of those fruity purees are quite tasty).  It's kind of fun feeding him new things and seeing the expression on his face.  I hope he's not a picky eater.

Rambling!

~C~