Oh. My. God.

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I was always bummed out when I lived in other locations- especially apartments- and didn't get a lot of trick-or-treaters. Things have definitely changed. My neighborhood is apparently Halloween Central. I think last night was a record-buster. I did my usual creepy pumpkin carving using the pattern book, put out some spider-web lights on the pathway and bought MAJOR candy to prepare. The first hour is always nerve-wracking. Will they come? Will I be stuck with so much candy I'll give myself Diabetes eating it all?

Then, they came. And came. And came. Hordes. Scores. Masses. Young mothers with costumed baby vampires and pumpkins. I know this infant has no idea what is going on and will (hopefully) not be eating the candy but I think it is sweet that having a child gives the parent the opportunity to go trick-or-treating as an adult. I got tiny princesses, fairies, mermaids and oh yeah- SO many pirates! Lots of Spider-men, Scream ghouls, bleeding skeletons and warriors. Some cowboys, football players and of course a large number of sullen-looking pre-teens with no costume at all and a pillow case or more often- a plastic HEB grocery bag. I didn't discriminate, I gave them all the standard, pre-arranged two or three pieces.

Then it got a bit scary. See, they didn't stop. It just got worse. Masses all showing up together in clusters of 10, 15, sometimes 20 kids at a time. Then the slow-moving mini-vans, trucks and cars would pull up like a drive by and Snow-Whites and Zorros would pile out in such massive numbers it looked like a clown car bit at a circus. I began to be afraid. My reserves were running low. At around 8:30 when the onslaught had not abated, I began to get desperate. I rifled through cabinets and found old rolls of life-savers, Hershey kisses, and when those were gone, fell back on my stash of fruit rollups, packs of 100-calorie oreo bits and personal candy bars and my treasured pack of pop-rocks. The last kid, right before 9:30, got an unpopped bag of microwave popcorn. At that point the light was turned out, the pumpkin extinguished and the door closed. I settled into the rest of Nip/Tuck feeling exhausted and exhilarated.

I can't wait for next year, but now that I know what I am up against, I will prepare for over 200 guests. I know they are out there, and they will be back.