Happy Halloween!

There was an article in the Dallas Morning News this morning, talking about the age-old subject of, “How old is too old to go trick or treating?” It reminded me of the last time I went trick or treating…my freshman year of high school.

So, I believe you’re too old to go trick or treating when you’re old enough to find out on the bus the next day that your boyfriend dumped you the night before…and everyone else knew before you did. Good times.

Seriously though…how old is too old? I remember being at Mom’s house years ago, before she moved to New York, and her doorbell was ringing until 10 PM. At that late hour, it was generally teenagers in totally non-original costumes like “High School Junior” and “Disaffected Youth Gone Mild”. She gave them candy because she was afraid they’d trash her house if they didn’t. And that my friends, is the reason for the season.

On the flipside…how young is too young? If you can’t ring the doorbell on your own…you’re too young. That includes children who are too small to reach the doorbell, and children who are not yet coordinated enough to be able to put one foot in front of the other to walk up to the door on his/her own. That would also, by association, exclude really drunk adults.

CU and I have never been ones to hand out candy to the kids because really, the kids around here so indulged the other 364 days a year that they’re brats when they show up at your door, and the doorbell ringing drives Cookie and Daisy completely insane. The first year we lived here, vans from other parts of town showed up and dumped off, well, vanloads full of kids. I suppose they thought they’d get better candy in our neighborhood.

My biggest Halloween pet peeve? Kids ringing your doorbell even if all the lights are off and you’re pretending no one’s home. Kind of makes me want to tail those kids - follow ‘em home and wake them up at 3 AM by ringing the doorbell. This is even tougher this year, because we didn’t get the joy of Daylight Saving Time ending last weekend…so it won’t truly be dark enough to go trick-or-treating until 7:30 PM or so.

When CU and I went to an SPCA wine tasting event last month, maybe it was the month before…I can’t remember…anyway, we got goodie bags and inside were two little pet costumes. We’ll dress Cookie and Daisy up if for no other reason than it will make for a really cute picture. Actually, we should probably take them out for a walk…they’re way scarier than any kids out there.