This is Halloween
In June my 6-year-old son proudly announced what he wanted to be for Halloween. He jumped right into detailing exactly how his character costume should look. I admired him for planning early since this would give me a decent amount of time to throw together this obvious DIY costume.
Throughout the summer we would continue talking and planning. In mid-September the mission began and a few nights ago we added the finishing touches. This is the second year my son has chosen a DIY costume, and I admit, I absolutely love collaborating with him!
However, as I recall, it might not have been like this….
Rewind to thirty years ago, at the prime of my “tweenage” years. There was a brief movement among certain Christian denominations to boycott Halloween. They believed that Halloween was the devil’s holiday and for a Christian to celebrate anything Halloween was blasphemous. Although my parents seemed quite onboard with this newfound revelation, my brothers and I were persuasive enough, and they allowed us to still partake in the All Hallows’ Eve festivities. It also helped that the small community we lived in only allowed trick-or-treating on October 30th. So technically we weren’t even participating on Halloween Night.
What struck me hard for many years though was the guilt I felt wanting to participate in Halloween at all. Although I never watched scary movies or liked scary decorations, I truly enjoyed dressing up for one night a year to get free candy, and I absolutely loved pumpkins! For years following, my conscience would scream at how terrible a Christian I was to even think about costumes, candy and “Thriller”. (Let’s face it, Michael Jackson & Vincent Price totally reinvented Halloween in the 80’s and we all loved it)!
My shame and guilt remained until our first child was born in 2002.
My daughter was only 2 months on her first Halloween and like any new mother I wanted to dress her up! I settled on a cute pumpkin onesie with matching pumpkin hat, but I knew that all Halloweens after that, I wanted my daughter to grow up with the same fond, and fun memories I had as a child. I couldn’t wait to dress her up from head to toe and take her trick-or-treating!
In my maturity I stopped condemning myself and I realized that just like Christmas, Halloween is what we make it. I could easily create a spooky, scary Halloween atmosphere, however, I choose to celebrate in a way that honors my faith: I make it about family.
So, every year we indulge in memory-making activities, like watching “It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown,” and carving our own pumpkins. We decorate the house with pumpkins of all shapes, colors and sizes, and we take the kiddos trick-or-treating. It also includes those sweet moments of finding a way to make your son a Three Musketeers costume the same way Mickey Mouse wore it! (You can google it).
Halloween is what we make it in our homes. There’s no shame and no guilt for creating these memories with our children, and yes, it does come with free candy as an awesome perk! Ultimately, they will remember how we celebrated, and you are in charge of defining the reason you celebrate. No one owns that but you.
Happy Halloween 2019!
Christie
All for one & one for all!