Trick or Treat!

I'm confused about when Halloween standards went out the window. 

#1 Halloween was on a Sunday.  Growing up, I don't recall there ever being confusion about what night you trick or treat.  Why would a Sunday night be any different than Monday-Thursday?  You trick or treat on October 31, rain or shine, the day of the lord or a week night.

#2 Trick or Treat.  It's the phrase you say, then I give you candy.  M and I live on a street where there aren't that many kids.  We bought a couple bags of candy at Publix, just to be prepared.  So Saturday night, we had a Halloween party with some of our friends, very low key.  Before too many people arrived, a couple of ninjas came to the door.  They were polite, and the only ones who came by on Saturday.

Sunday night, M and I didn't have fancy plans since we'd had the party the night before.  We had spent the day moving plants in the yard, washing our cars and picking out paint samples for our shutters/front door, so we were planning on cooking some stir fry and watching a movie.  From about 5 pm to 7 pm we had a handful of kids.  I'm pretty sure all them arrived by car outside our front door.  The proceeded to ring the doorbell, Sally went berserk, M restrained her while I opened the door.  I'm pretty sure of the 15 or so trick or treaters we had, maybe 4 who actually uttered those three words: Trick or Treat.  With the other kids, they just stood there with their tote bags/buckets open, staring up at me.  Hello, I don't have to give you candy!  There's no law.  

This is how it should work: You ring doorbell.  I open door.  You look all cute in your costume, say "Trick or Treeeeeaaat!" and I think "oh, how precious!" and give you some candy.  

I was just irritated that the mothers and fathers who looked on didn't tell their kids, "Say trick or treat."  Although, I will say that about half the parents told their kids to say thank you.  I guess that counts for something.

So after about 7 pm there didn't seem to be any more kiddos.  We closed the door and resumed our movie.  Well, about 8:30 or 9, the doorbell rang again.  I opened the door to find three teenagers standing on our porch, and only 1 or 2 of them were wearing costumes.  M thinks they were stoned.  They did say trick or treat and went on their merry way. 

Maybe it's a generational thing.  But when I was growing up, you didn't expect to get free candy unless you said trick or treat.  Are parents not teaching their children that phrase anymore?  It seems the "sanctity" of Halloween is going away.  And that makes me sad.