With one major Fall holiday down, there’s one to go before Christmas, which means stores should already be stocked with Christmas decorations, parents are beginning to stock up and hide away presents for their little ones, and the “Keep Christ in Christmas” crowd is ramping up to full speed.
‘Tis officially the holiday season. Holiday, derived from Holy Day. Can’t really tell anymore looking at our consumer cultural landscape. Prior to having children, I was much more cynical towards the holidays, seeing them as nothing more than an attempt by the greeting card, toy, costume, and decoration industries to end their year in the black. Case in point, it is estimated up to $5 Billion (yes, with a B) was spent on Halloween this year (down from last, believe it or not). But going out with my young Iron Man and Minnie Mouse Princess last night and watching the joy in their faces as they went door-to-door, I’ve softened up my stance. Christmas and Easter I approach the same way- the kids don’t care about the etymology of holiday or how the Church blended pagan influences with their own doctrine to be relatable and supersede existing holidays- they just want to have fun (and eat candy, lots and lots of candy).
Yet of the three major holidays (leaving out Thanksgiving which exists for me on a whole other level), Halloween has always been a personal favorite. I love the effort put into costumes, carving pumpkins, and decorating. Maybe it’s the engineer in me. But as a Christian, there seem to be two approaches towards this holiday. Either participate but forbid costumes and themes that hint of the occult, or not participate at all. I’m honestly not sure which is better. As my son grows older, if he’s anything like me, he will look for the scariest costume he can find and run with it. I’m not sure how to cross that bridge when I get there. For now though, I’ll settle with Iron Man and Minne Mouse. And just from observation last night, superheroes and princesses outnumbered ghouls and goblins 2-to-1.
My question(s) of the week:
Did you celebrate Halloween last night? If so, how (basic door-to-door, haunted houses, fall festival, etc)?
Did you (or your kids) dress up? As what?
we gave out candy, and that's about it.
when our girls were small, we would take them to a few neighbors here on the outskirts of town. we would stay at each place for awhile and visit together.
my youngest is now in middle school and wore a victorian looking dress that use to belong to me. She went around with some of her friends that live in town gathering candy.
The girls like to dress-up, they like gathering the candy, and spending time after sorting and trading the candy. Plus they have a good time being with their friends.
My oldest daughter was working at the winery, as it is busy harvest season.
The main streen in town is blocked-off, and the stores hand out candy.
I figure that most celebrations are really about the the tasty treats and getting together with friends. All the other stuff is just because most people don't have a reason to do it otherwise.
I don't pay much attention to the reasons anymore. I just like to Love people and not get so distracted by the brokenness.
I really love Halloween, but I didn't until I had kids. We live in a small town, and lots of kids come in from the country to trick-or-treat in our neighborhood. There have been times when I have given out homemade tracts, but last night, we just oohed and aahed over the little kids' costumes and offered free cokes to the adults.
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God Bless You 🙂
~Ron
Thanks, everyone for your comments. I didn't dress up myself and we were over at family's most of the night, so we didn't even decorate our house. But my kids loved every minute. I'll choose to enjoy it as long as they do. As they get older… we'll see.