How We Organize Our Treasure

Thoughts on wine, candy, and a monumental Halloween haul

I was watching my boy as he had his Halloween candy haul spread out over the kitchen table. When I say “haul”, I’m not joking around. It was the first time he ever brought home more candy than we bought. But when I watched him pick over the candy, pick up each piece and examine it, then categorize it by “Favorites”, “Pretty Good” and “meh”, it reminded me of myself, looking over my wine collection. Exactly like me.

First, about that record-setting candy haul. We live in a lovely neighborhood built in the early 1990s. Lots of old and tall trees. Homes on 1/8 to 1/4 acre lots. The area isn’t flat, but there really aren’t any hills. The homes are next to each other with about 10 yards space between each other. I tell you this to explain that it’s a prime trick-or-treating spot.

It’s so good that folks travel to our neighborhood once a year only to trick or treat. And the neighbors oblige with lots of displays of shipwrecked skeleton pirates, homes crawling with giant spikers, lots of ghosts hanging from trees, and the newly fashionable Halloween lights and projections on homes.