Halloween, the begging holiday

As my husband Jim points out, Halloween is the only night of the year when you willingly open the door for masked strangers. I remember my mother was not very fond of Halloween and I thought she was such a wet blanket. Well, guess what? It's my least favorite holiday, so I guess I've turned into my mother.

I worked on Halloween night, so I didn't get to witness the parade of masked strangers begging for sugar. Dan is too young to trick or treat or even enjoy getting dressed up. And judging by his response to the trick or treaters, if we had dressed him up, his own reflection might have terrified him.

Jim had Dan in his arms as he answered the night's first doorbell. Dan took one look at these masked marauders and began screaming. By now, he's learned certain things about the appearance of humans, and what he saw on our front porch just didn't fit with his ideas. The second batch of trick or treaters elicited the same response. So Dan played in his funtime playland while Jim attended the beggars, er, I mean, kids.

What bugs me the most about Halloween is the complete lack of manners. In years past, there have been some kids who don't even say "trick or treat." They then reach into my basket before I can hand out the candy, pull out several pieces and then leave without saying thank you. They barely make eye contact or smile. What's worse is their parents stand at the end of our driveway, not even bothering to come up to enforce basic manners or speak with us, their neighbors.

This year, our neighborhood agreed that trick or treating would happen between 5:30 and 7:30 and only at homes with porch lights on. So, Jim turned off the porch light and began getting Dan settled for bed after 7:30. Dan was nearly asleep on Jim's shoulder at 7:45 when some little brat rang the doorbell over and over and over again. Guess who woke up?

When Jim told me this, I asked if he got the door. Of course, he didn't because he now had a wide awake, crying baby on his hands. But if I was home, I might have gone down, opened the door and given them one hell of a Halloween scare. That's what Halloween is all about, right?