Halloween: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The day before Halloween I began to teach the Sugar Baby the fine art of trick-or-treating. I explained to him that he would hold a bag and say "Trick or Treat!" and people would give him a surprise. The first few times we practiced he insisted on saying "Trick or Corn!" I'm not sure where that came from, but he eventually got the hang of things.

We had a mighty full schedule on Halloween. We started off with Trick or Treat on Main Street at 3 p.m. where the Sugar Baby went into a catatonic state at the sight of gazillions of people. Still, he managed to come away with a full bag o' treats. I will say, though, that this year Dum Dums prevailed, whereas last year there were more Fun Size bars. No doubt it's the state of the economy.

Then it was off to Grandma and Pop Pop's where he got a very cute Hershey Kiss-- not as big as one of those giant ones, but bigger than a regular one. After that: one of the big highlights of Halloween, it was off to St. Anthony's Church where yet again Father John was doling out full size candy bars! And check this out-- he had a special bar just for me-- a Mo's Bacon Bar! Yes, bacon and chocolate. He doesn't fool around when it comes to candy! And then, it was back home for a quick dinner and then off to trick-or-treat around the neighborhood. So without further ado, I give you the haul, starting with The Ugly: This is a High School Musical Strawberry Pop Rocks artifically flavored chocolate treat. I just can't help but wonder if there are traces of melamine in there.

The Bad:

Lots of Dum Dums and little individual candies that you have to throw out because they're really not sealed and someone could so easily dip them into arsenic and re-wrap, so out those go. And then, a fortune cookie. Cute idea. Not so good when it gets crushed beneath masses of Snickers and Kit Kats.

And The Good:

A full-sized Starburst and Almond Joy, my Mo's Bacon Bar, the Hershey Kiss, some Fun Dip, Swedish Fish, pretzels and animal crackers.

And of course there were lots of the regular goodies, like Butterfingers (I'd forgotten how good those could be), Twizzlers, Milky Ways and all the rest. Some observations: the candy bars were smaller this year. The Fun Size ones all seemed slightly skinnier. I will say, however, that the candy I sampled all seemed really fresh. And there was something different about Sweet Tarts. I seem to remember that they were more tapered and disc-like; this year they were more round and solid.

So there you have it. Another wonderful Halloween come and gone. I have only one thing to say: bring on the candy canes and ribbon candy! Soon it'll be the most wonderful time of the year!