Post-Halloween Rant

These days money is tight.  Really tight!!  Every penny counts.  I tried to estimate the amount of candy to have on hand for the trick-or-treaters by counting the kids in the immediate vicinity and then multiplied by three.  Turned out that was a lot of kids.  I came up with 25 I knew from just the three buildings right here and then I counted the kids in the buildings we pass on our walks.  Anyway, I bought a lot of candy just in case.
THREE kids showed up.  Total.  That's it.  Just three brave souls who knocked and got candy.  One was the little Girl Scout I bought cookies from last year but I didn't recognize the other two.  Three kids.
Oreo was on his best behavior and didn't bark.  I bribed him with treats and he was a model of good behavior.  We heard lots of kids on the stairs (we are on the 3rd floor) and I would send him down the hall so he wouldn't be freaked out by kids in costumes but they never came all the way up.  I kept going back to get him and shrugging my shoulders.  Oreo got really good at going back when he heard kids on the stairs and knew that if he went quietly he would get a treat when it was over but what a let down!!
When I took Oreo out for his bedtime walk around 11pm, I finally noticed the trouble:  My elderly neighbor had put up big orange signs that said "No candy up here!"  I wish I had gone out earlier and seen that!  I'd have put up another sign directing them to my place!!  Now I have a ton of candy that I spent precious dollars on and which I will have to eat because of Paul's diabetes.  (I know you're sarcastically saying "Oh, boo-freakin'-hoo.  Have to eat candy..." But I really intended that this candy would be gone by last night and now I'll be eating it constantly.)
I wouldn't say Halloween is my favorite holiday.  Christmas is by far my preference.  But I do think it's cool to hand out candy to kids in costume and as a kid I thought it was pretty great to be able to knock on doors and be rewarded with sweet treats!! 
I even prepared my place by lighting a ton of candles and hanging long, orange curtains from a tension rod around my entryway.  It looked pretty spooky.  I have a couple of candle holders that have cutouts (one of a witch and one of spiders in a web) that create some damn cool shadows on the wall and I made sure they were casting shadows on the enrty wall.  I enjoyed the ambience but the throngs of kids I expected to freak out never got to see it.  How disappointing!!