Yesterday was Halloween. For the past several years I have gone over to my daughter's house to hand out candy while the family goes out Trick or Treating through their neighborhood. They live in an awesome gated community that celebrates the holidays in a BIG way. The decorations are elaborate and the residents are out in full party mode. Tables are set up in front of houses offering not only candy to the kids but all sorts of food and alcoholic beverages to the adults. It's a fun place to be even in this year of quarantine and social distancing.
This year my grand kids were very concerned that I would be exposed to nasty germ ridden children as I sat handing out goodies from the front yard. To avoid any contamination of grandma they decided to devise a way to keep me "socially distanced" from the costumed hoards who show up at their door. The first attempt was to build a ramp out of hot wheel track that would reach from the second floor balcony down to the driveway. That did not work ! All thirteen feet of it kept falling apart and twisting around. Plan two was to build a ramp out of cardboard taped together and supported by one of dad's ladders. The Man got wind of all this and decided he could build a chute from PVC pipe until he found out how expensive this pipe is. He then decided he could build a cheaper version of the chute from "drain field pipe" until he could not find anyone in a fifty mile radius that sold this type of pipe. This fact blew his mind because apparently this type of pipe is a dime a dozen in the UP where people actually have "drain fields". Florida being a state built on sand does not EVER create this type of drainage system so therefore no one sells this special type of pipe. At this point the kids went back to the chute plan which actually worked until it began to rain. About twenty minutes before it started to get dark enough to bring out the Trick or Treaters the sky opened and the cardboard chute "melted" into a large pile of instant mush. Good thing the kids had a back up plan, (one that grand ma suggested days earlier). I sat upstairs on the balcony and when some kids came along I lowered a small bucket filled with candy for the kids to reach into. It was a huge hit with everyone who showed up and it kept me safe from germs.
What this arrangement did NOT keep me safe from was the plethora of chocolate sitting in a large bowl next to my chair. For what ever reason this year my daughter chose to purchase the GOOD chocolate Halloween candy. The bowl was filled with mini Snickers, Milky Way, Kit Kat bars and my all time favorite, Nestlies Crunch. OMG ! What was she thinking ??????? I could sit in a room filled with Skittles, Tootsie rolls and Jolly Ranchers and not even consider opening one and putting it into my mouth. But if you put a chocolate bar any where in a three mile radius of me it's all over.
I arrived at My daughter's house around five o'clock after going to Saturday night mass. Keri had made a lovely dinner of ribs, mashed potatoes and a delicious mix of Brussel Sprouts and Broccoli. It sounds crazy but the veggies were REALLY good. I didn't over do it with dinner but I did enjoy the really tasty meal. When dinner was over everyone got into their costumes and headed out into the damp night for their two hour walk through the neighborhood leaving me alone with a huge bowl full of candy.
By nine that night when the family was dragging their bones home laden with pillow cases full of goodies grand ma was ready to throw up. I was very diligent in handing out the candy to the neighborhood kids but I did just happen to be a bit selective when it came to which candy went into the bucket and which candy went into my mouth. There was not a single Crunch bar that made it into anyones bag, they ALL went into my mouth. By the end of the evening there were still quite a few candy bars left so my daughter sent me home with a bag of candy "for The Man". Many of these did not survive the five minute drive from Keri's house to mine. The Man, not knowing any better, was delighted to get the small bag of goodies that I brought home. Little did he realize that the bag was twice the size before it got into my car with me.
At 3 AM last night my stomach was rolling over and I knew it must have been those damn Brussel Sprouts ! That's the last time I eat those little suckers !
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