Beware of Little Girls Bearing Candy

Halloween is over for another year and yesterday was pretty much the same as in the past. Anyone on foot wanting to visit our house must first travel up a fairly busy road that climbs the small mountain we have here in town. After about ¼ mile they turn onto a dead-end street of six houses and then turn again to our street of three houses, also a dead-end. Not the most fertile territory for efficient candy-gathering. And it was raining last night.

So, just like last year, our only trick or treaters were two girls who live up the street. Their older sisters have gotten too old and cool to trick or treat, and I suspect these two only have about one year more ahead of them. This year was different in one respect – they brought candy to us, saying their mother wanted to get it out of the house.

 Great.

 Now here I am with a bag of Mounds bars and a bag of Twix and again I’m standing on annual brink of potential weight gain. Anyone who loves food deeply but still enjoys seeing their feet knows what I mean.

 In the summer we can’t envelop ourselves in long sweaters and compression jeans, so we rediscover the land of fruit and salads. Then Fall creeps up and before I know it, I’m kneading bread and mashing potatoes – cooking is fun again. And then we’re off.

          Halloween and leftover candy

          Thanksgiving: the festival of carbohydrates

          Christmas: basically one month of eating and drinking

          January: a last hurrah of parties, then brief penitence

          February: Valentine candy

Then March arrives, the month when I look in the mirror with dismay and disgust and decide that a new hair color/ lipstick/ pair of shoes could fix everything. Blazing red hair, day-glow lips, or lime green  sneakers will surely draw the eye and create fresh and exciting topics of conversation. 

And if I adopt all three, I may never be sabotaged by little girls at my front door again.