I don't know why I have such a hang up about Halloween. I wouldn't even refer to it as Halloween on my blog my first 3 years of having kids. I'd refer to it as 'costume day' or 'fall fest' ONLY. I don't know why. I'm not a 'devil worshipper'. I'm not worried about my kids getting into trouble (yet!). I remember going to church when I was growing up (and we didn't trick or treat), and I'm sure that's all my kids think of it as, dressing up, going to the fall fest (aka playing games and getting candy) at church, and this is the first year I let Cara go to 2 of our neighbors houses. She loves dressing up, so I don't even know if she notices anything weird at all! :) She's in bed by the time we have people coming to our door. And I don't buy anything expensive for them. They either wear handmade items (cara's poodle skirt last year) or hand me downs (Micah's dog costume this year). This is our first year to even carve a pumpkin, and we've been married 8.5 years!! I'm weird, yes I admit it!! But I always just thought in my head, 'I don't celebrate halloween!' and Eric never really cared, so we just didn't. When we got our first house 5 years ago, we bought a little candy, so we'd hand it out, for maybe half an hour, and then we were done. And when we had kids, the dogs would wake them up, so we usually do it for a short time and that's all. 
I always hated when teenagers with no costumes would come to our door with a pillow case, so as soon as that happened, I turned the light out. I also HATE the big decorations on people's lawns (yes Jen K, I read your post tonight, and it made me smile, but I'm just not that into it, which I obviously have an issue with!), especially now that I have kids, it scares them. Cara went to our neighbors house and told Mr. Scott that she doesn't like the big spider and spider webs on his lawn! :) Plus it drives me crazy when people (especially in our neighborhood) go all out with cemetaries galore in their front yard and then don't decorate for Christmas. Don't get me wrong, we don't decorate for Christmas either!! We do inside, but we just never have had lots of $$ to splurge on outdoor decorations. This year we did have our carved pumpkin (already rotting with bugs) and a little painted pumpkin from Cara and a scarecrow from wal-mart on our front porch. I was fairly pleased with myself. The nasty black buggy pumpkin WAS probably scary! :)
Anyways, what is my issue? I was speaking to one of our pastor's wives at church tonight and she mentioned her girls were at the age when they loved to trick or treat. I love FALL!! I love harvest time and all the deep orange/red/brown colors. It's my absolute favorite time of year. Cara loves pumpkins, we went like 5 times to the pumpkin patch this year. So why do I have this hang up on Halloween. I feel like I'm sinning or being bad to 'celebrate' it, and OH how I have judged people in the past!! I've been dealing in my head lately about how everything doesn't always have to be Christ centered. Don't get me wrong, I mean, everything should be, we are commanded to if we are Christ followers, BUT if there is a fun thing for kids, and you can relate it to God (aka, going to church, or doing a (yet unblogged) family devo revolving around pumpkins, what's the harm? I kinda feel the same way about the tooth fairy (not that we are even there yet!!). A friend said they do it, because it doesn't take away from God (like Santa or the Easter Bunny take away from Christ during christmas and easter), it's pretend and their children know that. So....where do you stand? Does it bother you at all, or am I the only weirdo? :) haha. And here's a cutie or 2 that did dress up this year!! :)
I like to 'match' them, so she's a cheerleader, and I tried to make him a 'mascot.' That involved a random dog costume I've had for years and a football jersey on. Mostly people were confused, and he was hot, so we just went with the dog! Here she thought it was hilarious to shake the pom poms in his face, and he got so smiley!!
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oh Halloween! We have always celebrated it but not the scary stuff. No dressing up as witches, devils...etc. Funny thing is, my pastor's daughter, (7), dressed up as a witch this year complete with a green face! I completely respect their family and so that took me off guard, but it reminded me to not judge b/c their family is totally sold out for Jesus. As for Santa, we tell Rilyn, "We pretend to believe." It is fun to pretend for little girls especially and so they know he is not real, but we pretend we believe in him. We don't make a big fuss over him though, we always center the holiday on the birth of Jesus! No tooth fairy for us...it just seems like 'lying' to my girls. Can't justify it in my head.
Well, since I was called out :-) Kidding...
First, your parent filter is respected. A house that is decorated scary for a little one should not be trick or treated at! But, I don't think that a person who decorates for Halloween and not Christmas is a big deal. Christmas decorations do not make the holiday, I know you know that.
I've always viewed Halloween as fun. That's it. No Christian slant or thought to it. Truth be told, I didn't get along with my dad growing up and Halloween was a time where we always had fun, which is probably why I love the holiday. It brings back wonderful memories. Having said that, I fully believe parents are responsible for how their children view all worldly and fictional things - Santa, Halloween, books, movies, fairies and princesses, superman and super heroes. Disney and many children books are filled with fantasies and make believe things that can make a child think they can fly (superman or Sleeping Beauty's three fairies, for example) or that they can talk under water (Little Mermaid). It's a parent's responsibility to teach their child that they can't jump off the bed and fly or breathe under water. Halloween is a time to play dress up and get candy, but can get out of control if a parent doesn't filter things for their (especially young) children. Harry Potter isn't evil because it shows magic, but a parent needs to teach their children that they can't jump on a broom and fly. Make believe sparks creativity in young minds though and shouldn't be filtered out completely.
Now, each family is different and if you don't want to call it Halloween, then that's what is best for your family. If you don't want to have Santa visit or the Easter Bunny hide eggs, then it's not a big deal. I do encourage anyone to visit the reasons why they do what they do. I revisit things in my life when my circumstances change (a whole post in itself). Convictions change and it doesn't make you a hypocrite. People may say differently, but I firmly believe as you change and grow, so do your convictions.
I've written WAY too much! Your thoughts?!?
I've tried to "come around" on the day. I've never been too big on it, but I've felt angry that a silly day for kids where neighbors can be friendly with each other can be one more thing that Satan can use to manipulate us. I don't like anything evil about the day, and I am not ignorant to the fact that some people out there really celebrate the evil one. However, I think if we can "take back" some things and try to keep them pure then we can chip away at some of that power. Who knows how I'll feels as things go on, but for now I'm just trying to make sure that we don't glorify anything that Jesus wouldn't like and keep it fun.
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