My Thoughts on Halloween- and holidays in general-

Ok, so I just put on Facebook that I just don't like Halloween. I honestly thought- Hmm, maybe I shouldn't say this- it will probably offend/annoy most people I know-but I said it anyways because I really don't like it and I just wanted to say it.

But then I thought I probably could go into my actual reasoning a little more... so here I am.

I was thinking, while dragging a wagon full of kids and candy from house to house- how it is just so odd that first of all, kids come to my door expecting me to give them candy, and secondly, that I am taking my kids to other people's doors begging for candy. What a weird tradition.

At one house, a guy took a picture of Caleb. It really creeped me out. I know he was taking a picture of his wife, dressed up in her costume, giving out candy but still- it just seemed strange to take a picture of my child.

Now, there are a lot of things that I think are weird, like the whole candy ritual, and adults dressing up in costumes, especially adult men in green spandex super-hero costumes (I really saw this, before I quickly averted my eyes) :) but beyond the weirdness, there is so much about this particular holiday that disturbs me. If it were just kids dressing up in innocent costumes and asking for candy, ok, well, that's strange but not that big of a deal. But what I don't like is all the gory costumes, on children and adults, all the skulls and other gore hanging around people's houses.... I really don't like my kids seeing that. But it's everywhere. People decorate so much for this day.

So I looked up the origins of Halloween because I wanted to be an informed blogwriter and it originates with the Celtic holiday of Samhain which is apparently when the Celts believed the barrier between this world and the next was thin on this night and let some harmless and some harmful spirits cross over into our world. So people dressed up and put scary decorations around to scare away the bad spirits. Well, that doesn't sound great to me... doesn't sound like a tradition I need to continue. Now, my kids dressed up as a doctor, Snow White, Cinderella, and a Nascar driver. So- it's not like they were dressed up as demons and whatnot but we certainly saw way more of that than I would have liked. We also saw a lot of provocatively dressed teenage girls and women- also not something I would usually let my kids see- I was thinking that if we were watching TV and there was all this gore and spookiness, I would turn it off right away so why was I walking around in it? We did go home once I had that thought.

Adam told me that someone he knows from work plans his whole year for Halloween. It's the biggest holiday of the year for him. I know a lot of people, Christians included, who think Halloween is such a great thing and such a big deal and can't wait to "celebrate" it. It just feels so pointless to me. I was thinking about that as I walked along and I think it's because it is one of the few holidays that has no tie to Jesus. That's probably why a lot of people who don't know Jesus love it so much, because they can celebrate without any "religion" interrupting their lives. But I have no idea why Christians like it.

When I look in the Bible, I see that God set up holidays to be observed. He is big on that- the Israelites had tons of feasts that God told them to observe and celebrate. I think of Purim later on in the Bible which celebrated how God delivered the Jews from Haman and their enemies in Persia- But there were no holidays just for the sake of having a holiday. Every one had a specific purpose and specific thing that they were remembering and thanking God for. So a holiday that has no purpose and no reason to thank God is really not a God-ordained holiday, right? Is that a fair conclusion?

By far, my favorite two holidays are Christmas and Easter. Christmas, because I love the month before when we really focus on God's plan of redemption culminating in the birth of Christ and Easter when I remember how Jesus died for my sins but rose again from the dead and conquered death so I can live. All the goofy things like Santa Claus and Easter bunnies just don't even register for me. I don't even think about them because that isn't what those holidays are about. I kind of hate when people ask my kids questions  like "What do you want Santa Claus to bring you?" because my kids just sort of stare at them blankly and then I feel absurdly guilty like I'm not a good parent if I don't tell my kids there is a Santa Claus and that is what Christmas is all about even though I don't believe that at all and it's totally against what I am teaching them about Christmas.

I guess for me- I can just see how everything in my life comes back to Jesus. When I look at my days and weeks, my whole week is looking forward to Sunday, certainly to the responsibilities I have at church and how I need to make time in my week to get my work for church done, but also to how I need to have a pure heart before God when I get to Sunday so I can worship Him with my fellow believers because I don't want there to be a division between me and God or between me and my "family" at church. That's what my week points to. When people talk about how they are looking forward to the weekend, I think, one day is pretty much like the next, why does it matter? Sunday is the only day in my life that is significantly different, that I really look forward to.

This is not to say at all that I think relaxing or having fun or celebrating is wrong. Not at all. I like to have fun :) And I have a lot of pointless recreational time in my life- well, not a lot- but some. Anyways, I'm just saying that as a whole, anything in my life that doesn't point to Jesus is not worth much to me. So Halloween, which some might argue points directly away from Jesus, is just a silly empty "holiday" celebrating nothing and causing endless fights over candy in my house for weeks to come.

That's all I have to say about that :)