Since Halloween is on Sunday this year, and since we live right in the buckle of the Bible belt, we actually score TWO nights of trick-or-treating! How's that work, you ask...
See, many of the churches in our town (and surrounding communities) decided that they would keep their normal Sunday evening schedules and would do their celebrations (Halloween, Hallelujah, All Hallow's Eve - whatever!) on Saturday night. A few neighborhoods in our town followed suit and announced they'd be accepting candy solicitation only on Saturday nights. A few of the surrounding towns actually proclaimed that within their city limits, they'd celebrate and trick-or-treat only on Saturday night. Our town, however, made no decision one way or the other - as far as I know (and as evidenced by the 24 dozen Tootsie Rolls I've already passed out); therefore, we have two nights of community-endoresed begging.
Last night we began our celebration by hitting as many TRUNK-or treats at as many different denominations as we could because we are nothing if not supporters of Freedom of Religion. Then, before we dropped The Daughters off with Nana for the night so we could go to a grown-up party, we hit the exclusive neighborhood - ya know... the neighborhood where all the candy is chocolate and name brand and those gross black and orange wax-wrapped candies are outlawed!
Since we had quite a stash (and another day yet to trick or treat), The Dad and I took it upon ourselves to make sure The Daughters had enough room in their plastic pumpkins to hold tonights loot as well. When you are a parent, you just give and give and give, am I right?
It was obvious to us that we couldn't leave the valuable goods - like the Snickers and KitKats and Twix - just out in the open for anyone who may stop by to grab. We needed to guard those suckers! Well, not literally the suckers... the drop-in guests could have all the suckers they wanted. Just not the chocolate.
The dilema was this: If we just put the candy AWAY and didn't hide it really, really well, then the good stuff might not last as long. OK, fine: What I mean by that is this -- The Dad and I needed to hide the good stuff so we could dole it out to The Daughters with great parental supervision. Yeah - that's not entirely the truth either. The Dad and I wanted to keep the good stuff as much to ourselves as possible! There... I said it!
C'mon, now. Don't pretend you don't do this too! I know you do!
And since we're all good friends here, I'll share with you the hiding places we found to be the best hiding places in case you want to make your good stuff last as long as possible for yourself. Do not tell The Daughters!
Our Daughter-proof hiding spots:
1. The cabinet where we keep the trashbags. It's been only recently that we've asked The Daughters to actually take out the trash and replace the bag. Up to this point, it's been more trouble than it's worth. When they'd take out the trash, half of it would end up on the floor or trailing The Daughters as they dragged it to the trash can. They've finally become somewhat proficient at taking the trash - the whole trash and nothing but the trash - to the outside can. However, the replacement of the trashliner? This is a step that seems to baffle them. They still believe in many things magical, so they may believe that the Trash Can Fairy magically re-lines the can with plastic every night as they sleep. In their defense, I do believe they have inherited this trait from The Dad who still, to this very day, finds it difficult to actually replace the liner. Taking into consideration all of this information, I hid my favorite KitKats in this spot.
2. Their dirty clothes hamper. Walk through The Daughters' rooms on any day that ends in Y and you will see approximately half of their wardrobes on the floor. Just this past week, I told Daughter 2 to bring her hamper into the laundry room so I could do her laundry and she responeded, "What's a 'hamper'?" Clearly, this is a safe place where they will never think to look. BUT, in case they get a hankering to clean up their rooms (Christmas is coming soon!), I hid the plain Hershey's there.
3. The toothpaste drawer. Yes, Alanis, I see the irony in this! In recent months... No, in recent years, we've had to FIGHT with The Daughters to get them to brush their teeth. On mornings when we're just too tired to fight with them, we will let them slide by just brushing with water. I think those mornings will be in November. Besides, genetically, we've got good teeth on both sides of us... Horse breeders would be proud! And, if this is the generation where the good teeth stop, we've got good insurance! We hid the Peppermint Patties there -- at least if they find them, they'll have breath that smells like they used toothpaste!
4. The Dishwasher. A few months ago we sold our kitchen table. Just last month, we bought another kitchen table and I began the process of refinishing it. Just today, I finally put the almost-final touches on the new table. This means that we have been eating from the couches in front of the TV. (Yes, we do have a dining room table and, believe it or not, it's cleared off! But, it's all the way at the other end of our 12-foot long kitchen ... and, we can't see America's Funniest Home Videos from the dining room!) So, as we finish eating, I tell The Daughters to "go load your dishes." So far, they've interpreted this mean, "put your dishes on the stove", "put your dishes on the dining room table", "put your dishes in the laundry room", and even "put your dishes in the refrigerator". Not once have their dishes actually ended up loaded in the dishwasher. We hid the 3 Musketeers in there in a large baggie. Even if we do forget to remove them before we wash the dishes, it's just 3 Musketeers - no big loss, right?
And our final hiding place:
5. The bathroom cabinet with the toilet paper. Heaven knows that they certainly do NOT know how to change the toilet paper! I know this because I am ALWAYS stuck in the bathroom without toilet paper! I'm in fairly good practice of putting extra rolls behind the toilet, but more times than not, I'm up a that creek without a roll! Sometimes The Dad even forgets we have this cabinet. Because I have a sick sense of humor and because I - at the time - thought Caddyshack was one of the funniest movies ever made, I hid the Baby Ruth's with the toilet paper.
I hear ya, I hear ya! What about the Snickers? Where do we hide the Snickers? Friends, those don't even make it into hiding, much less make it home from the dark walk!
Happy Halloween!! And may your chocolate last until Thanksgiving!!
