Saturday, September 29, 2012

To dress up or not dress up? The Halloween question.

That is the question.

Growing up, one of the favorite "holidays" in our household was Halloween.  What better time of year for my mom to use her most clever creativity to display for all the town to see and for her children and nieces and nephews to win ribbon after ribbon at costume competitions.  I remember many freezing cold nights waddling around in some crazy costume.  I loved it and hated it at the same time!  Most often the costumes were extremely uncomfortable and yet SUPER cute.  I was a Christmas tree, a snail, a crayon...etc.  My mom's costumes were the best.

Josh's family, however, was the complete opposite.  Josh has never dressed up for Halloween or gone trick or treating.  His family would celebrate "harvest" either on another night, or on Halloween night and play lots of fun silly games as a family.  They would usually do something special during that time, but just not trick or treating.

When Josh and I got married and started our own family, we both agreed to stay away from Halloween as we felt that it had too much history with the dark and demonic.  Our kids have never been trick or treating or dressed up on Halloween for a parade.  We typically have kept them out of school for the day of the Halloween parade as they don't have costumes.  Like Josh's family, we try to make them not feel like they are completely missing out on tons of fun and would spend the day at Funspot and/or watch a movie.

Our kids have had many awkward conversations with strangers (usually at stores) when asked "are you excited for Halloween?" or "what are you dressing up as?".  They usually just smile and say "I don't know".  It definitely had them asking "Why?" to us.  Our answer was plain and simple as we tried to explain the history of Halloween to them, and really, they seemed to understand and not really argue the issue too much.    It was a topic of discussion for a few weeks out of the year and then forgotten quickly.

Over the years though, October has brought the discussion between Josh and I.  We both really felt that it was important to really understand the history of Halloween, especially as our answers weren't really enough for the kids as they were getting older.

We started really questioning why we avoid this time of year...as if to be afraid of it.

In doing research on the origin of Halloween we have found nothing but conflicting history.  The story is different depending on region and religion.  A similar story, but yet one that that is not completely conclusive.

Regardless of the history though, on thing that God has been laying on both of our hearts is the fact that we want to be a "light" in our community and really try to be this on a daily basis.  We are active in our community in many area's.  With that in mind, we found it quite silly to be shutting off our lights and "hiding" on the one night of the year when they entire community comes knocking at our door!

In addition to this, people consider Halloween a demonic holiday.  And yes, this is true for many, but why should we as Christians hide from this and allow this to continue to be a demonic day?  As Christians, we do not need to be afraid of this.

Coming to this conclusion has been a process over a few years.  Last year was the first year that we kept our lights on and actually had candy to give to any trick or treaters that might show up.  We had one...and the kids were super excited to hand out some candy.  (and I was excited to have left overs:)  But, we felt better about things already and felt like we weren't shutting ourselves off, even if nobody came here.

This year, we decided to go ahead and let the kids dress up for the parade at school.  We will definitely have some great candy to share at our house and plan to join much of our community and attend Meredith's "Trick or Eat"..which is an awesome community fundraiser to raise money for the "Got Lunch" program.  This will be another opportunity for our kids to wear their costumes.  Will our hearts be thinking about death and demons during this time?  No.  Will we be actively involved and opening our doors to the community?  Yes.

Of course, this all is a matter and decision that we have made as a family over time.  We are not judging other families who continue to choose not to participate in the activities of this season.

Ultimately, we know many friends and family (and teachers) who have known our family for years and who know that we have not participated in Halloween.  I hope that this explains our "change of heart" in a way that makes it clear that we aren't just 'getting lax' or giving in to the desires of our kids, etc.

...and with this change, comes a VERY excited NANA who now get's to bust out her mad costume designing skills for her grandkids.  As much as she respected our family's decision over the years, a big part of her wanted to secretly dress my kids up and take them trick or treating.  She didn't do this.  I don't think:)

...and for fun, here's a little of my mom's handy work:)


 

2 comments:

Mrs. Warhola said...

If we had children, this is a decision that we would have to face at our house. Michael & I have very different ideas and memories of Halloween.
Good luck...and of course post pictures!

Dawn and the boys said...

Love this. Halloween is what you make it, in my opinion. Make it about light and fun and that's what it is. :) Have a lovely time! Can't wait to see pics!