I missed sitting by my window last week. I was going to celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day with you and take you on a tour of our local Native American Studies Center that’s part of the University of SC. But then family descended and well, best laid plans! I’ll save that excursion for another day.

With Halloween less than two weeks away, and the shelves stocked with Christmas décor, it was obviously time to buy candy for trick-or-treaters. Unfortunately, few bags could be found among the Santas, Christmas trees, elves and wreaths–unless I wanted Kisses wrapped in red, silver, or green foil. Most of the Halloween candy I did find wouldn’t have made good leftovers. I wanted sweets I wouldn’t mind eating after the 31^st. That got me reminiscing about childhood walks with my Trick-or-Treat bag (usually a pillowcase, not an official imprinted trick-or-treat bag). Costumes were fun but often hidden under winter coats, thanks to late November in Ohio. So, for me the night was all about the treats.   

The hoped for candy was chocolate–kind and texture didn’t much matter. I loved Snickers’ and Milky Way’s gooey caramel, Almond Joy’s and Mallow Cups’ sweet coconut, Reese’s creamy peanut butter and chocolate combo, Heath’s buttery rich toffee coated in milk chocolate. (Did anyone else eat all the chocolate off first, leaving just the toffee center to crunch?) And speaking of crunch, Crunch and Hershey bars were delicious in their no-frills-added simplicity.

Sometimes neighbors gave full-sized bars, but in the early sixties Mars Inc. began making their junior size. They were cute and fun and easier to swap but carried the underlying suspicion that we’d somehow gotten cheated. Even if we got two junior or snack size bars, did they equal a full size? The consensus was they didn’t. But still, those little pops of chocolate and caramel were as easy to eat as a handful of M&Ms … which were good too.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

My pillowcase also sagged beneath the weight of handfuls of penny candy: black jacks, bulls’ eyes, Dum-Dum suckers, Mary Janes, and Bit-O-Honey (according to one search, Bit-O-Honey debuted in 1924, making it 100 years-old this year! Some would say it tastes like it’s a century old. But the newer formula makes the nuggets a bit softer, so it doesn’t feel like they’re pulling your teeth out as you chew. So Happy Birthday Bit-O-Honey!) and then the small packets of candy corn, and mini jawbreakers. Occasionally there were the boxes of Cracker Jacks with the built-in anticipation for the toy inside.

Last week I took a Grand and a daughter-in-law to Waxhaw’s General Store. I found barrels of the penny candy like which used to fill in the gaps between chocolate bars in my pillowcase, and like I bought at Harold’s Summit Street Carry-Out. The candy isn’t a penny anymore, closer to $10.00/lb.

I didn’t buy the wax lips or fangs, which only show up this time of year, but I’m curious to know if the flavor of them remains the same from my childhood memory. I looked for the little wax bottles filled with their rainbow of colors but they were nowhere to be found. Neither were the wax mustaches.

Emptying my childhood trick-or-treat pillowcase, I didn’t mind finding the non-candy additions like apples and homemade popcorn balls … as long as I didn’t get an overabundance. I’ve made popcorn balls. They’re easy, messy and can be time-consuming if you’re making more than one batch. I’m in awe and have more gratitude toward those women who made dozens of them for the neighborhood Cinderellas, ghosts, witches, clowns, and cowboys.

As I worked on this post last night, I saw my first Christmas commercial of the season, and that’s where nostalgia hit the skids. I mean, I just bought Halloween candy and my Granddaughter just decorated my house for Autum last week! Even as a child I think I internally noticed those breathing spaces between Halloween … and Thanksgiving … and finally to Christmas. As an adult and in my early parenting I appreciated those spaces even more. Now I push back as much as possible against the Happy Hallo-Thanks-Mas holiday. It’s not always easy and last night’s ad reminded me how intrusive that commercial spirit can be.

Maybe this year, thanks to Helene, our focus and energy will shift and things will be a little different. There will be groups striving to make Halloween’s trick-or-treat as normal as possible next week for children who’ve faced their worst nightmare. This Thanksgiving I imagine we’ll take examples from hurricane victims who despite losing everything still find so much to be thankful for. I know of families who are either cutting back on holiday gift giving, or completely forgoing family exchanges for some kind of relief giving–whether simply donating the money they’d typically spend, adopting a family, or doing a family project benefitting hurricane survivors. Maybe the Thanks-Mas part will be truer to the spirit of both.

The amount of Tootsie Pops, Tootsie Roll bars, Tootsie Rolls, and Tootsie Midgees in the basket has dwindled so it all fits in a medium sized mixing bowl. The pieces were easy pickings for family last week. We live in a more rural neighborhood so even though the number of children in it is increasing, I suspect we’ll have few princesses, superheroes, or monsters this year. I understand the convenience and safety of community truck-or-treats, but I really miss having the parade of treaters marching up to our door. Good thing I like Tootsie Rolls. They are chocolate after all …

What was/is your favorite Halloween candy? I even like Bit-O-Honey. I’ll be back on Monday with Book Review Monday! I hope you have a wonderful week with more treats than tricks.