The reason for TRUNK-or-Treating

When we first moved here to Texas I didn't really pay much attention to the whole trick-or-treating scene - except that I had candy ready to hand out. Why would I? No kids. We were newly-weds throwing what was to become our annual adult-only Halloween party. So I barely noticed that we didn't have many trick-or-treaters. Not sure if it was due to the party or that we kept eating the candy ourselves. Anyhow, once the whole door-knocking vs. parking lot thing became an issue, I started wondering why the change in tradition? Was it a Southern thing? A Mormon thing? A Southern-Mormon thing? Well, when people from the church down the road kept mistaking us for their church and Gommy's ward up in Bountiful, UT hosted theirs, I started in on other theories. Safety? Ease? Time-saver? But these theories were flawed as well since it's not as if you go around the circle once and head out -- you know you're going to end up there for hours talking; and certainly it can't be easier to "dress up" your trunk and drive 20 mins to the church to hand out candy down there instead of in the comfort of your own home; and chasing your kids away from reversing vehicles is certainly not my idea of safety. So why again are we starting this new tradition and kicking out the old?
Well tonight I got my answer. See, I figured I'd be smart and go door-to-door before the trunk-or-treat and that way hit 2 birds. But not with one stone. Nope. It took all my stones to drag my 3-yr and 1-yr olds around the ENTIRE neighborhood. And then another ENTIRE neighborhood. And why, you ask, why on earth would I condemn myself to such an inevitably painful, long, drawn-out, sticky-hand & chocolate smeared experience? For the same reason smart people stick with the trunk-or-treating.... because 3 out of every 4 houses is a "not home," "don't have candy," or "We don't celebrate Halloween." Bah!