All Quiet on the Chocolate Front ... I waited for the Great Pumpkin

I make no bones about it, I love Halloween.  I'd probably love it a little more if there was a true snap in the air and leaves turning on the trees, even mulled apple juice in the kitchen.  

This year I was kind of like Charlie Brown waiting for the Great Pumpkin; except that I'm female and not male, I live nowhere near a pumpkin patch, and no one I know heckles me to my face.  But I was prepared: yard decorations, card table and chair, laptop playing spooky music, cauldron full of chocolate.  Most important, an open heart ready to celebrate the creativity and imaginations of the younger set.


When God was a child and we moved to this neighborhood, there were kids everywhere.  Every school vacation was celebrated with lemonade stands at the end of the street.  Never did I have to wonder if the Girl Scouts would accost me at the grocery store, three or four would come to my door.  Virtually each house on the street decorated for all Hallows Eve.  

Granted churches, parks, malls, and even strip malls are providing outlets for quick, safe trick or treating, I miss the kids.  

At one point, my neighborhood got more than two-hundred kids of all ages.  They would ring the doorbell up to 10:30 at night!  It was great!

Last night we got less than twenty kids; one giant bag of chocolate from the big box store was more than enough to satisfy the troopers who came by. And I was more than a little generous - fistfuls of chocolate for everyone, even the adults.  

Will I do it again next year? Wait for the throngs of kids bedecked in their 'holiday' best?  You bet.

I just hope all doesn't remain quiet on the chocolate front next year, too.