Happy Halloween

Here's the best part of Halloween: Candy Corn.

Really, I ought to just slide up to the sugar bowl and eat it directly out of there, but there's something so lovely about candy corn. It is the quintessential Halloween candy. It has the right fall colors, lots of orange and yellow. In fact, it has the colors that my beautiful Japanese maple should have right about now.

So, even though I'm not dressing up as anything (I figure, I'm witchy enough on a regular day--why go for the obvious today) I can still enjoy the candy. And there's plenty of it because I gave in and went to get the candy--including Jonathan's selfish candy.

I remember that as a kid, the focus moved quickly to figuring out which house had the best candy. There were always some creepy people who gave out fruit--um, I guess they never got the memo about CANDY. And then there were the ones who gave those weird black and orange peanut butter taffies. I like them now, but for a ten-year-old, c'mon, dig a little deeper in those pockets and come out with the cash for the good stuff. We can't forget the folks who pooh-poohed Halloween altogether, and gave out the tracts about burning in hell because we weren't saved. Gimme a break--no kid in my group was thinking Satanic thoughts---we had to visit as many houses as possible to get the loot!

The big ceremony was at home sorting the stash. There's so much new candy today, but I am partial to memories of the good ole days. Remember the red wax lips? They tasted kind of like licorice. Remember the sugar sticks that looked like a pack of cigarettes, complete with the red tip? Man, what Big Tobacco executive came up with THAT idea? Talk about raising a generation of smokers!!! I hated the Necco wafers, but loved Pixie Sticks. I never did figure out how to suck down all that sugar without clogging up the straw with my slobber.

And of course, the best part about being the oldest is trading all the crummy candy for the good stuff. I'm guessing that won't work anymore. You kids can keep the Sour Skittles and the Gummy Worms. I'm settling in for the night with a bowl of candy corn.