A few final thoughts. For the most part, people were VERY good this year. Everyone seemed patient with the crowds and stood in line to wait their turn at our candy bucket, maybe because H was so good with them. Most people dressed up at least somewhat. I didn’t have any un-costumed parents with no children asking for candy for their “sick baby at home.” Maybe they just sent sick kids, lol. I did notice only one with a gross runny nose, but no coughing. That’s pretty good even compared to the pre-covid days.
People were very gracious when we ran out of candy - though this is typical. I remarked to H that we could have easily handed out 10 more pounds, probably 20. I already spend over $100 for candy, and that’s enough IMO… but I had a good time and would consider doing a little more next year, if the weather appears to be decent.
But… one one big head scratcher. In our area/city, there are plenty of vacant houses and houses that don’t participate. If you participate, the porch lights are on. In our neighborhood, you have to sit outside because there are just that many people. You wouldn’t get the door closed before the next batch comes all night long. And people seem to be respectful of that and don’t go up to houses without people outside. Plenty of houses around us are vacant, so I watch this all the time…
So, after we ran out, H and I turned off the light at the street/sidewalk, our porch light, brought in Alexa, turned off the lights shining on Pumpkin man, as well as all lights inside the house… and we went out to dinner at Firehouse Subs. While we were there, I got a motion detector Ring alert. H asked me to check to make sure nobody was trying to steal pumpkin head man. I look and it’s a woman with a 6-7ish y.o. kid hanging back on our porch. She doesn’t ring our doorbell. Instead she kneels down and opens porch kitty’s box. It’s a paper box with the front cut out and a blanket inside. It’s obvious it’s a cat box, especially since there’s a tray with a cat food bowl and water in front of it. What in the world was she doing or thinking? Did she really think our dark house had candy stashed there? But then this morning, I was hoping she wasn’t trying to steal our cat…