Oh, my word. Why am I having another child? Don't get me wrong. I LOVE my kids. Really. But... I just got done spending three hours in a church at a Harvest Party (our Jesus Freak alternative to Halloween) with 60 screaming kids amped up on sugar and caffeine.
THREE hours. Of those three I spent two chasing my 2 year old. Seemingly the only parent that actually did bother to monitor their young one. Yes, my wife and I were keeping track of the older ones too - again, seemingly the only parents that were doing that either. What absolute madness. And why did I did this? Why do we do this?
Simple, we don't celebrate Halloween. So, because of that we want the kids to have an alternative for the night and have some fun. And they really do have fun too. There's a jumpy, games (pie throwing and the like) limbo sticks, field goal kicking, cookie making and the like. It's a blast for the kids and they don't feel like they've missed out on the fun that the other kids are having. Which, for the kids (especially mine) is really what they want. A chance to get out of the house and have some fun.
And man, can these kids go! I'm beat. My back is killing me, I've got a headache and I'm ready for bed. And just to think, I've got at least another 10-12 years of this to go. Lovely. It's like self-dentistry. Ouch! Sigh.
Having said that, it's worth it. Every second. Sure, I'd like to see some parents participate a bit more watching their kids, but I'll live through it. Why? Because it's good for my kids. It's good for my kids not to be celebrating Halloween. It's good for my kids to understand the Feast of Tabernacles, how the Jewish people celebrate the harvest - and the Lord of the harvest. It's good for them to understand the difference between the Harvest party and the Pagan, Wiccan and Satanic celebrations that take place on Halloween. And yes, there are differences between all of the above.
I know a lot of folks say - hey the kids don't care, especially the little ones they just want to put on costumes - and for your 1-2 year old that might be true. The problem is that even at that age I'd be sending a double message to my kids and I'd be making an exception for the little one that my bigger ones couldn't join in. And, being that I've taught my girls that the pagan/Wiccan routes aren't cool in light of the Bible I can't just say "well it's true every day except for 10/31." I just can't say - well kids you know, it's OK to throw away everything we base our life on just so we can put on costumes for the night. No can do. Heck, my kids play dress up all the time - not doing it this one night won't kill them. Actually, it does them a lot of good.
Some folks may say that I've got the whole thing (that being Halloween) all wrong. Maybe. I just know what I've studied on the topic. I've spent a lot of time doing research into the origins and roots of the holiday, how it started with the ancient Druids and the like. It's a very European feast - at least in the traditions that are more commonly associated with Halloween here in the US. Of course, as the tradition has progressed it has also continued to get progressively more graphically gory and terrifying - in large part because we've had such an increase in technology that allows for that. So, we don't celebrate it, we don't celebrate the whole concept of Trick or Treat (which was something that was more done by the spirits that the ancient Celts were trying to appease). And - we're still not being kill joys! See, we be good mommy and daddy!
Well, there you go. I'm finally wound down enough from dealing with 60 screaming kids in a small space to wrap it up and head to bed. Hope you all had a good day - I know (even with all the above!) I did. AND, my Bimmer turned 3 today (well, three years with me - it's really 8 years old) and at 139,000 miles it's still running like a champ!
Peace out.
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