Trick or treating - same rules apply

Beauty the wonder dog and I walked around the neighborhood this evening. We left the condo early but the time change with winter's approach meant it was dark and chilly, the perfect night for trick-or-treating. For some reason I expected the process would be done differently. Portland is quite large compared to the 12,000 people that comprised the town I grew up in. Surprisingly, in a comforting way, the same rules apply. Dark houses that appeared empty and lacked carved pumpkin adornments weren't participating in the dispersment of candy, while lit houses elaborately decorated with faux cobwebs eagerly awaited the knock at the door. Parents and children of all ages could be seen traveling from house to house, bags stuffed with corn syrup and chocolate concoctions knocking against their legs. Mixed with the crunch of dried leaves as we traipsed along, was the click of the door latch, the inward swoosh as the door opened, the chorus of "Trick or treat!" shouted by the kids, the mumbled "You're welcome," as the candy was distributed into the waiting receptacles, and the high-pitched, laced with excitement "Thank you!", followed by the pounding of little feet down the steps and onto the sidewalk that would lead them to the next Halloween adventure.

When I was younger the trick-or-treating my siblings and I did was completed in the one block of our neighborhood. Since many of the houses were where our friends lived, we could count on hitting them more than once to help boost our candy take for the night. I can remember, as we grew older, learning of one neighborhood in particular where the houses gave out full-sized candy bars. That was a good year. The process was always the same, get dressed, go trick-or-treating, return home, assess the candy haul. This was done by dumping all of the candy in the bag/bucket/etc. onto the living room floor. I would separate each type of candy into piles - separate but equal piles, except for the candy that I didn't like (e.g., Mounds, Almond Joy, Mr. Goodbar) which I would try to trade with my younger brother and sister or pawn off on my dad. So next year, we're definitely going to have to consider dressing up, even if our costumes end up being something lame like college students, because getting free candy from strangers is awesome.