Just a little something to pass the time between trick-or-treaters, or as I like to call them, greedy, ungrateful grabbers.
(Yes, this was done with pencil and paper as we still have no computer. Dave came home and I'm using his laptop.)
Trick or treat night, called Beggar's Night here (I don't know if that's a Midwest or an Iowa thing), is the night before Halloween. Dave was directing a rehearsal at school, leaving me to pass out candy, which I generally love, if the kids are thankful and at least cute. Here are some highlights of my evening:
Me (to a group of kids outside my door): "What do you say?"
Kids: "Trick or Treat."
Me: "How about some enthusiasm?
Kids: "Trick or Treat."
Me: "How about saying it like you actually WANT me to give you some candy?"
Kids (slightly louder): "Trick or Treat."
***
Girl: "You have a baby in there!"
Me: "No, it's just a costume."
silence
Me: "Just kidding." (That joke falls flat when A) you have an audience of 7-year-olds and B) you're not wearing any other part of a costume.)
***
There are so many kids, I'm almost out of candy after one hour. My last piano student left at 6pm. Beggar's Night is from 6-8pm in Indianola. Kids passed her up to my door as she left. Two minutes later, I locked the door to run to the bathroom (having taught since 3:30)...the doorbell (hereby known as DB) rings. I don't know how many kids I missed.
I run to the freezer to get some fake chicken nuggets out to bake. DB
Turn on oven. DB
Steady stream of kids until oven is ready. Get pan out for dinner. DB
Put nuggets on pan and into oven. DB
Set timer. DB
Stream of kids.
Timer goes off 16 min. later. I let it go for 4 min. as I can't leave the door.
Take nuggets out. DB
Take edamame out of freezer. DB
Open package. DB
Empty package.DB
(*This is a more than 12-step process for dinner!)
I was actually able to plate my food (nuggets and edamame...so healthy!) and bring it to my perch on my front hall staircase before the next DB rang.
Other neighbours were smart and just parked themselves on their front porches. It got a little cold and windy by 7pm, so I was glad to be inside.
***
Best costume of the night: a bunch of grapes. I don't know how they did it, but she was completely enveloped in purple balloons. Her parents had to help her with my porch steps and getting her candy. I also appreciated the thought she'd put into her costume-appropriate joke. Another tradition here is for kids to tell a joke to get candy. Most are just bad. Some are inappropriate, like the baby in a blender joke...ummm, you're 11 or 12--can you not see I'm pregnant?! Hers: What do grapes do when they're stepped on? They whine... Teehee!
***
7:15pm Almost out of my "reserve" candy. My dinner is sitting next to me, cold.
I started out with: tootsie pops, M&M's (x2), "smarties" (not to be confused with the real "Smarties" from Canada), Mounds/Almond Joy double pack, and even a handful of bugs and some old candies (mostly sugar-free) I found in a drawer. With the exception of a couple greedy grabbers, I did my best to limit the hand-outs to 1 per child. At an average of 25 candies per bag, we definitely had over 100 kids come by tonight. And no left-over candy for me?? I'd even purposely bought candy I'd like if some was left over. Not the best "diet" plan, I know, but I figured it was permissable for 9-month pregnant woman! Baby needs his peanut M&M's.
***
7:25pm...uh-oh...I may need to break open my granola bars. There are exactly 20 pieces of candy left. OK. If it goes, I'm turning off the lights. At least in Indianola, since it's pretty controlled (6-8pm only), we don't get many older kids or teens. The oldest kids seemed about 12 tonight. So there's a very low risk of egged or toilet-papered houses.
***
My favourite of the night...the girl with no costume. Hmmm... She said, "My mom forgot to bring it." Do you just say "no candy for you"? I thought she could at least have made something up. So I suggested she tell people she's going as her twin sister. Her response: "I don't have a twin sister."
Mental head slap.
***
7:45pm No kids for 10 minutes...I'm closing up shop!
Happy Halloween, everyone!
3 comments:
I don't know where "Beggar's night" comes from. I've lived in 4 different parts of Iowa and I'd never heard it until I moved here.
Never heard of Beggar's Night either. We're having fun over here in Spencer View Apartments. Very polite kids, with creative costumes. That's Eugene for you!
I think we had four groups of kiddos here. We are on a busy street, and our house's "front" door is in the back. We used to line pumpkins up to direct kids to our door; at this point I'm too lazy.
As usual I purchased too much candy. I think Dan will take it to work with him, which is fine by me; I do NOT need any more candy!
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