Halloween

What to do for Halloween? It is one of those holidays that I have been conflicted over for years and now that we have kids I knew that Dwayne and I would have to come to some sort of conclusion. We both had been raised that Halloween was the "Devil's Holiday" and that we would not go trick-or-treating or celebrate it in any way. What made it more confusing though is we went to a "Harvest Party" at the local churches. Dwayne and I finally decided that no matter what title you put on it you are still celebrating the day and the holiday. Even Christmas has many rituals based in pagan traditions. After some long discussions we decided that we would not treat Halloween any different from any other holiday that comes and we celebrate. Just like anything you do it really has to do with the spirit that you are approaching the holiday from. As a family, we are going to celebrate it in more of a Harvest Festival sort of way. We will allow the kids to dress up and we are going to take them trick or treating. I am putting my foot down though and they will not be allowed to dress in anything scary or gory. No witches, gouls, skeletons, or serial killers. But that still leaves many options available. Princesses, super heroes, etc. will be totally acceptable.

With that decision finally decided at the last minute we weren't sure what to dress the kids up as this year. I didn't set any money aside for costumes. The mall where I work was having a trick or treating in a controlled "safe" environment and I really wanted to take them. Luckily, Dianne had been bringing/making dress up clothes for the kids so we had a few things we could pull together for them. Evie went as Peter Pan and Sam we dressed up as a cowboy. They both got so many comments about how great they looked. I think it was because the costumes were handmade and "real" vs. the expensive yet cheap-looking costumes that are so popular. At first they weren't sure what was expected of them but seeing that candy was involved, they were both pros with the asking and saying thank you by the end of the mall. We thought about hitting another section of mall and maybe going to our church also but I realized that Halloween is NOT going to be focused on how much candy we can get. They had plenty of candy and it was dinnertime and Evie hadn't had a nap. All these things added up to a short but sweet trick-or-treating session. Overall, we had a great time and I think it went really well for our first ever as a family.