Crappy Halloween!

As the store shelves begin to fill with Santa paraphernalia and commercial Christmas takes over, I am mourning the end of my favourite Holiday - Halloween.

THE highlight of Halloween 2018 - a note left from one of
my colleagues before she left, as I was on a conference call. 

But this Halloween was much different from any I had ever experienced before in Canada. And it left me feeling... sad.

The title reflects two ways in which Halloween 2018 was less than what I’d hoped.

For starters, Gertie kept me awake most of the night leading into Halloween, as she had a delightful bout of diarrhea; most likely a result of switching her to “big girl food.” Thankfully she is back to her usual self, but it meant I was exhausted before the day even got started*.

Post-poopy puppy, rocking her Halloween scarf!

But, the really kicker was in the Trick or Treater department. As a child I enjoyed the process of dressing up, and heading out to gather what felt like unlimited pieces of candy (most of which I didn’t eat). By the age of about 11, however, I realized I preferred handing out the candy and seeing what others were dressed up far more, than actually going out myself**. So when I bought my house, one of the things I was most looking forward to, was handing out Halloween treats to the neighbourhood kids.

Let’s step back for a minute - I feel I need to confess that 364 (or 365 during leap year) days of the year, small children, or really children of any kind aside from a few friends’ and cousins’ children, are my least favourite thing. They cry and are loud, and for some unknown reason, they always seem to have jam on their hands! WHERE DO THEY FIND THE JAM?! But on Halloween, I love ‘em! I love to see the creativity that goes into so many costumes. I love that one of the most cherished childhood rituals is still happening, and hasn’t been changed from how I remember it to be... or has it?!

Being in a fairly popular subdivision, I was told to anticipate several hundred children. As a result, I went out and purchased a number of bars to reflect what seemed right in my head based on the pre-Halloween warnings. I left work on time, and had already filled a bowl full of candy the night before so I would be ready in case anyone came really early! I didn’t want to be the house that wasn’t ready for Halloween or didn’t have candy. And yet... somehow... I was that house.

Clearly I went overboard. At least I didn’t have line up
at the grocery store the next day to get discounted candy!

Despite having EVERY light on in my house, I only had 2 (that’s right TWO!) trick or treaters. This wouldn’t make me feel as bad, if it weren’t for the 100+ that I counted walking past my house!

To say I was confused would be an understatement. I heard several kids saying that there wasn’t anyone home, despite me being in the living room window (WITH ALL THE LIGHTS ON IN MY HOUSE) pointing to a bowl of candy to show a) I was home and b) I had treats!

But the blow was hearing parents say things like “we don’t know those people” or “we haven’t met them yet.” While I appreciate that not sending your children to a house with strangers is probably a good thing, aren’t you - the parent - with you child? Since when did not knowing someone mean you couldn’t trick or treat at that place? ...especially given the fact that MOST of the trick or treaters that I saw walk by were definitely NOT from my neighbourhood, or even street, given that only a handful of families on the street actually have kids!

Allow me to share the tale of the two kids that DID pop by for a half a bowl of candy each because I was just so excited to finally have someone come by. It was still light out. The two little girls - maybe 5 or 6 - started to make their way towards the house, but their mom said “No - we don’t know them, we aren’t going there.” One of the little girls responded with “But Mom, they’re our neighbour. They might not even know we are their neighbour, because we haven’t met them yet. How will they know, if we don’t introduce ourselves?” At this point, I’m like - go kid! I have SOOOOOO much candy to give you! And the Mom? She responded with “Fine. But I’m not walking up the driveway with you.”

So, let’s break this down for a second. First, my driveway is not that long. Second, how were you hesitant to allow you children to visit a house based on the fact that you didn’t know me, but were super fine with letting them head off on their own once your child just made a sound and reasonable argument to justify them doing so? I could have been anyone, and the door they came to is not visible to the street. I mean, I’m definitely not THAT person, but I can’t comprehend how that made sense in that mother’s head. I get, we are all prone to brain toots - and I have more than my fair share on a daily basis - but I just can’t sort that one out.

Anyway, my coworkers and I are making quite the dent in the leftover/neglected Halloween candy. Next year? Full-sized bars. I have to get strategic for the years to come...

-the Orange Canadian

*It did add a bit of realism to my “Exhausted Working Dog Mom” costume, though.
**This may be the result of having a father that used to like to scare kids that came to the door by dressing up as the scarecrow he had on the front entrance weeks before... or the fact that he wasn’t the only person who did this and I dislike nothing more than being scared by what should be lifeless objects.