Halloween

Before you read this, just let me say, I have nothing against Halloween and I'm not trying to offend anyone by writing this.  It's just one of those things where you have to decide one way or the other, and since Halloween is today, I just thought I'd share what we've decided.  I don't really think there's a right or wrong decision, just a decision.  And here's ours.

Halloween.  It's a fun holiday, right?  Dressing up in costumes, trick-or-treating, decorating with spiders, ghosts and witches.  There are alot of fun things associated with Halloween, and kids love it.  I mean, what kid doesn't want to put on a costume and travel around the neighborhood collecting enough candy to last the rest of the year? (although I'm sure for most kids it doesn't last nearly that long)

Everything I've said so far were my thoughts on Halloween up until this year.  I've always thought of it as a fun, no harm done, kind of holiday.  The equivalent of going on a Easter egg hunt for Easter, or getting presents from Santa on Christmas.  Just a fun thing for kids to do.

But this is the first year we've had a child old enough to participate in the holiday.  Caleb was only 4 months old last Halloween, so yes ... I did dress him in his little "my first Halloween" pumpkin outfit, but trick-or-treating wasn't really an option last year.  And he's still not old enough to know what's going on, but we needed to decide, as a family, how we were going to handle Halloween.

I dressed up, when I was a kid, for Halloween.  I went trick-or-treating around my neighborhood.  We also went to a Halloween carnival at the church I attended as a kid.  It was alot of fun.  Costumes, candy and games.  What's not to like?

My husband, on the other hand, wasn't comfortable with the holiday in general and didn't particularly want our children to participate in it.  I fought him on it.  Hard.  Our poor kids wouldn't get to trick-or-treat, or wear fun costumes or anything.  I brought it up several times over the last month, and every time his response was the same.  So he asked me to do some research on it.  Find out where Halloween came from, why it's celebrated, why the costumes and candy, why should we celebrate?

So I did.

And I can honestly say, I'm fine with our children not participating in Halloween.  Now, there are alot of fall carnivals (including the costumes and candy) and our church has a fall picnic with hayrides, cake walks and that sort of thing, and really, they're very similar to a Halloween celebration, minus the ghosts and goblins.  

Is there anything wrong with dressing up in costumes? Of course not.  Is there anything wrong with collecting a years supply of candy in one evening?  Certainly not, sounds good to me, actually :)  And  there's nothing at all wrong with celebrating Halloween however your family sees fit.  In my opinion, its a matter of personal conviction, and for our family this is what we decided ... we're gonna pass on Halloween.

But just so you know, while Caleb won't be trick-or-treating this year, he does have a frog costume that I will proudly dress him in and snap lots of little froggie pictures!