Hallowe’en Candy and Labour Day

Over our married life there have been many discussions about Hallowe’en. We haven’t always seen eye to eye on it, but we manage to get through unscathed. We’ve noted that candy hits the grocery store shelves a lot earlier than it used to; in fact some of it never leaves, it just increases in volume for two or three months.

I’ve never been big on having candy in the house on a regular basis. My kids pretty much all agree that that was one of the bigger mistakes I made as a mom, and they went into adulthood with those scars. I conceded (with limitations) at Hallowe’en, Christmas and Easter. Some things haven’t changed very much. I can’t help it. I simply cannot be the one who gives children ‘candy’. One day my 5 year old grandson Braeden said “I have a healthy gramma and a candy gramma.”
Oh oh, I knew exactly where this one was gonna go, but I opened the door anyway.
“Which one do you like best?” I asked.
With absolutely no hesitation – he had already made his decision “The candy Gramma.” LOL

I chuckled when I mentioned it to my daughter-in-law later, and she was mortified assuring me he didn’t mean it. But he did mean it, and that was 100% okay with me; I wasn’t offended then and I’m not offended now. It was funny to me, and it still is. He spoke from the immediate perspective of an innocent – focused on instant gratification, and the facts. The most important fact at the moment was that he.liked.candy. That’s okay. The truth is, I also like candy. If we’re talking only about the ‘taste’ of milk chocolate, I like it as much as anybody else – possibly more than many. And if that was the only consideration, we’d eat it for dinner at my house. But sugar and I have had a tumultuous relationship over the years.

I have a lotta dental work that can attest to how much candy I ate as a child, combined with poor training on personal dental care. And I have struggled my whole life with weight issues. It didn’t make any sense to me to allow candy a place of honour in the home I raised my children in. The jury’s still out on what the best parenting choices regarding sweets might be, but suffice it to say that most parents make the best choice they know how. Certainly I did. But eventually the kids grew up, gained more autonomy over their candy choices, and in their turn made the best parenting choices they could.

In the meantime, I still like chocolate and I still live in a 1st world country which pretty much worships it. I may have a lotta personal strengths, but willpower has never been one of them. Case in point is this dialogue below – which is absolutely true in every word, with varying degrees of repetitiveness over the years.

Sept 1, Dan says: “I saw Halloween candy over at Sobeys. Guess we better get some eh?”
me: “Why? We don’t need a bunch of chocolate bars taking up residence in this house – two months before they have to.”
he: “Well we don’t want to wait so long that they run out.”
me: “Oh come on! The last time a store ran out of Halloween candy was the Halloween day that I was 10 years old. (a childhood memory)
he: “I just thought it would be good to get it over with. Then we won’t have to worry about it.”
me: “Do you lose sleep worrying about possibly forgetting to pick up Hallowe’en candy? We both know that if that stuff comes into this house we’ll eat it all up, and then have to buy some more. And so do the stores know that. Which is why its on the shelves on Labour Day.”
he: “Well we might eat ‘some’ but that’s okay.”
me: “No its not Dan. Because unlike you, I don’t eat ‘some’. It will haunt me and I’ll be into it everyday till its gone. I can’t have that kinda temptation around. I’m sorry you married such a weak person.”
he: “I’ll hide it. You’ll be fine.”
me: “I won’t be fine. I’ll rip the house apart till I find it.”
he: “I’ll keep it in the garage.”
me: “You don’t think I know how to find your little stashes in the garage?”
he: “I’ll put it in the freezer.”
me: “I love frozen chocolate.”
he: “I’ll keep it over at the store.” Oh that’s a good one. We owned a family bookstore (Generations LDS Bookstore) at the time – where I might add, I spent the biggest part of each day.
me: “Oh THAT sounds like a brilliant plan!”
he: “I’ll keep it in the trunk of the car I drive. When I’m not home, it won’t be here.”

. . . . . . . let’s face it, to some of life’s issues there are just no perfect solutions, and that’s okay. We’ll get through them and keep things in perspective. Life is full of compromises.

Warmly,

Cindy Suelzle