Sorry to say it but I am. Although I love fall and everything about it...Halloween I could do without. I don't like carving pumpkins - yuck! What a smelly gross mess. Dressing up is not my thing either. You see, it takes forethought and creativity. I have neither. Trick or treating - I've never been much for going out visiting so this does not appeal to me either. It seems awkward. I usually enjoy the Halloween party at our church - yes, Halloween, not fall festival or what have you. I said in this post that I would talk further about my struggles with Halloween - not all that I mentioned above - but Halloween, the concept and celebration of it. You see, I have always heard and had the impression that Halloween was devil worshiper night to party. That enjoying anything having to do with Halloween meant you were a hair shy of becoming a witch or belonging to the occult. When I was younger, my mom started an All Saint's Eve party at our church that was held on Halloween night (as opposed to the weekend before or another night). That meant going trick or treating went out the window. My friends just could not get over this concept. No trick or treating. They thought I was so deprived and every year the big debate would come up with them. Why couldn't we just celebrate Halloween like everyone else? I would try to explain that Halloween was literally the eve of All Saints and that my mom just wanted to emphasize that part of the holiday instead of the more sinister side of it. Anyway, the whole thing just left a bitter taste in my mouth for the holiday and I was really border line "too old" for such things by that time anyway.
So, going into adulthood, it has just never caused huge excitement for me. Until now...until kids came along. I still don't like carving pumpkins and all of that but I love seeing Halloween through the kids' eyes. They don't see evil. The just see fun. Sure, Big Bear keeps saying things are spooky or scary, but she is not spooked or scared by them. To her, it's just what everyone else keeps saying - she has no concept of what that means. She is just thrilled to actually become the green Stegosaurus that she's been dying to be for months now. Mostly, she just wants candy!
So the past couple of days as I have been off of work nursing my arm (about to come to an end - boo hoo) and the kids have gone to school. I have had tons of time to catch up on blog reading (my Google Reader was up to about 800 or 900 unread posts - ack!). There have been so many great posts and link to articles about the roots of Halloween, the Catholic Church's role in the beginnings of Halloween and explanations on how it is okay as a Catholic to participate in Halloween activities without taking part in devil worshiping activities as I always thought I'd be doing if I allowed myself and my kids to enjoy this holiday. Here are a few of my favorites:
Ward Wide Web's Halloween post
American Catholic's article
Minnesota Mom's post has some great links too and I love the red eye picture while her daughter watches the old Charlie Brown Halloween classic. My little girl's eyes tear up when she watches tv - it's so strange. She's been shedding a lot of tears over that same Charlie Brown show the past few days!
So, I'm not going to say that I love Halloween or that it is one of my favorite holidays but I think I've overcome my road block to being able to enjoy it with my kids. To me, it is still just the gateway to the wonderful season that is coming up.
Christmas music starts playing TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!! And turkey is coming ya'll!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment