We Don't Celebrate Halloween, but . . .

I grew up believing in Santa. And the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy.

I also grew up trick-or-treating and enjoyed dressing up as a clown, a princess and a mummy (wrapped head to toe in toilet paper). Half way through my dad wrapping me, I shyly let him know "umm, dad I have to GO." After that, he reworked the costume to wear I could go to the bathroom without completely unwrapping my costume ;-)

We stopped trick or treating, though, when my family's lives were changed by God and we learned that Halloween originates from, well, some evil stuff from long ago. Please, no one be offended if you celebrate Halloween. I do not look down on anyone that lets their kids dress up and get candy. I believe that we can make it our own celebration of fall and it's ok to have fun at fall festivals and that sort of thing. We don't have to glorify the scary and devilsh things. We should teach our children about how Halloween came about, though.

Now that Daniel and I are having a little one of our own, we have to decide what we are going to teach our  children. Lots to ponder and pray about . . .

This past Halloween, Daniel and I just stayed at home and didn't answer the door to the trick or treaters. We only had 3 come to the door, but I had a thought. I'm trying to do the right thing by not "celebrating Halloween" and therefore not passing out candy, but what if I gave them candy and a book that told them about Jesus? I'm not having any impact on them by just not opening my door. But, I believe they would read that little book.

So, while we didn't pass out candy or dress up, we did go to a fun pumpkin carving party. Daniel won first place with his pumpkin. He was so proud. I don't think I got any votes for mine, but I still had fun ;-)
 

My pumpkin carved into a basket. Kind of sad looking.

I took mine home and made it much more purty, don't you think?

Daniel's Prize Winning Pumpkin (prize was a jar of Snickers & pumpkin templates to use next year) ;-)