Yum...chocolate

Trick or Treat night is tonight in my community. Some cities have it on October 31st, but some have it a few days before like mine does so that anyone having a party on Halloween can enjoy it. We're all stocked up on chocolate, and I probably won't raid the candy bowl just because I had a Snickers bar tonight for dessert after my dinner. But my dad is a different animal. Left to his own devices, he'd eat the entire bag of chocolate or of some other treat we buy if we'd let him. My mother and I watch over him as if we're bouncers at the corner bar just waiting for one infraction from Dad. Mind you, it wouldn't be so bad if he just had one or two pieces and saved the rest for the kids that show up dressed like Steve Urkel from the 90's sitcom Family Matters or Princess Tiana from the Disney movie The Princess and The Frog. And while leaving the porch light on is a sure fire way to get candy from a home that's participating in Trick or Treat night, there have been years we put Dad on door duty only to later regret it because he's been helping himself to the spoils of the chocolate pile.

Come to think of it, it wasn't any better when my brothers and I were kids and went out Trick or Treating around our neighborhood or near our grandparents' house. Not only did Dad have an epic fail at handing out the stash of M&Ms and Twizzlers at our house on nights my mother entrusted him with door duty (and later regret it, of course), he would also raid our Jack O'Lantern encased pirate booty of all the good stuff and we'd be left with nothing but Sour Patch Kids in flavors we didn't like or bubble gum that went stale within a few days. After all, in Dad's mind it was his civic duty to remind us that we were growing children who needed to eat real food like apples and carrots and chicken to make us healthy but that he could do just fine with eating another Rolo or Gummy Bear.

Now that I think of it, I should have purchased something gooey and sugary for Dad to preoccupy himself with tonight while I open the door for the ghosts, goblins, and ghouls of Bethlehem's north side. I have less than 10 minutes left to figure out how I will distract him from the goodies I brought home and have managed to keep out of his sight and out of his mind until Trick or Treating starts at 6:00 pm. Any ideas on what I can do? Think fast, folks! The clock is ticking...