What’s happened to the Halloween candy?
The annual candy fest is over. Even though some people handed out granola bars or other healthier option than candy [including tiny tubs of Play-Dough!], let’s face it. Most of us bought candy for the trick-or-treaters.
I won’t list the brands I bought, although I WILL say that most of them were combinations of peanuts and chocolates that generally give me a headache. Smart, huh? But, there was way too much.
So much, in fact, that I actually delivered EXTRA candy to the neighbor’s . The caregiver was taking a trip to visit some friends for a belated Halloween party - she got quite a bit as well.
Those of us who work outside the home know the power of co-workers. All the non-chocolate candy ended up in a big bowl AWAY from me. It’s almost gone.
The rest, well, it’s still here, but a fraction of what it was. Many of them are Mom’s favorites [and the ones that give me headaches]. Right now, there’s a batch of peanut butter brownies in the oven, made with peanut butter cups - a package and a half, in fact!
Great brownies, and they’re all going to church with Mom! YIPPEEEE!!!
So, all in all, I’ve survived it. Everyone is happy, and it’s all going away.
How did you do? where is all the extra candy you bought? AND WHY DO WE ALL BUY SO MUCH! The fact that it’s been on sale is no excuse!
As soon as I figure out that particular point, I’ll let you know.
And now, I gotta tell everyone that my awful deadline is finally past. The program went well, and life should get back to normal now, at least what passes for normal these days. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Stay tuned!
Regarding Hallowe’en candy, I have what the Weight Watchers folks like to call a non-scale victory to report.
Downside: having to work Tuesday night, I missed everything I like about Hallowe’en this year, completely, totally, utterly. This sucked. Hallowe’en is one of my favorite holidays, not because of the candy anymore, but because it’s a night holiday (I love holidays which are dark, night-oriented, and slightly uncanny), because of the costumes, and because I’m a pagan and it’s one of our big holy nights.
Up side: knowing I wouldn’t be home, there was no need to provide any Hallowe’en candy. Instead, I made my classes brownies with fair-trade organic cocoa powder. This, if anyone’s still reading, is important: this last couple of years I’ve gotten clued into the fact that most American chocolate is made with cocoa from Ghana and Ivory Coast, where they use (warning: depression ahead) slave labor. slave labor. Hershey’s and Mars chocolates are sweet with the blood of . Google it and see.
So where’s the victory, you ask? Well, last year we spent a small fortune buying organic fair-trade no- -blood chocolates for our classes and our trick-or-treaters. It’s delicious, especially the dark stuff, better than you can believe if you’re used to Hershey’s and company, but it is not cheap. This year we were a bit strapped, so we made those brownies with the safe cocoa. And the victory is less that we got to give our spiel about the chocolate, and give candy to some of the young without complicity in the misery of others of the young, than that our mindsets have really changed. When I walk into CVS these days, it doesn’t even OCCUR to me to buy a bag of little Snickers or KitKats or any of the things which, ten years ago, I ate by the handful. They aren’t even appealing (the waxiness, the poor quality, the blood all go together.) And I REALLY used to get a little crazy over Hershey’s miniatures.
I hope you all aren’t feeling too whipped by the long post or the blatant ideology…but I’m just amazed by the way politics, home cooking, and weight control have come together into one place. This is a real change in my life, and when I realized it had happened, it made my day. So maybe that was my Hallowe’en: one more tiny step toward better things for lots of people. Better chocolate for my , a little less torture for the I don’t know, better health for me and mine.