Sorry, Halloween isn't worth celebrating
“Yes, Halloween is big business. Beyond padding retailers’ pockets, it has little to no positive effect.” - Washington Examiner
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To the grandkids … it’s just dressing up and candy:
- Our gkids came by Tuesday night for pizza (they are 6 and 4).
- Our firehouse had an open house for kids
- The g-kids dressed as trolls
- And picked up some candy and climbed on firetrucks
I agree with the article. In contrast to nearly every other holiday, I just can’t see anything of lasting and redeemable value in Halloween. It could vanish from the calendar to no great loss.
Now that being said, I will cut a fine distinction here between the thing as it exists in culture and the individual’s choice to participate, to a degree. That is, I can consider the cultural phenomenon as negative while allowing that an individual may freely enjoy aspects of the same. I like candy and pumpkins as much as the next fellow, and don’t mind kids dressing up and having fun. If Halloween is just an occasion for them to do that, well and good. Mine don’t, but I don’t begrudge those who do.
It’s like superhero movies: the fact that you see the proliferation of them as saying something quite negative about the state of Hollywood is no bar to you enjoying the latest Marvel film.
Pretty much with Andrew on that. It seems silly and pointless… and for families on a tight budget the escalation of increasingly expensive and elaborate costumes is probably a trap best avoided. But for the most part, probably harmless fun for those who want to bother.
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
I did a little survey at church today. We are a small church. I asked about 5 kids about their Halloween
- One little girl (guessing 7 years old) said she dressed as Superwoman
- Another little girl (about 3) unzipped her little teddy-bear purse to show me candy and a paw-patrol toy
Harmless fun for the little ones
The kids at church are such a joy. … Guess I’m getting old or something, because they were never so wonderful to me when I was younger. There’s nothing quite like a 10 or 12 month old baby staring frankly (and with intermittent fascination) at you through most of a worship service. His little face jumping from confusion, to curiosity, to wonder, to happiness, and back again in seconds.
A bit distracting from the preaching, but a real blessing of a whole different kind.
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
Our boys were talking to some other Christian kids at the homeschool coop. Some of them dress up for Halloween and some don’t. One of the other kids said that they do not celebrate Halloween. Our 11 year old responded, “we don’t either, we just dress up and get candy.”
What he meant is that we have explained the “dark” side of Halloween to them and how we want nothing to do with that aspect while still allowing them to dress up and go to local trunk or treat events. When at the trunk or treat event this year, there was one car where the people handing out candy dressed as witches and wizards. Our boys decided on their own to avoid that stop.
Our oldest dressed as “Walker Texas Ranger” (they recently began watching reruns of the show), two of my boys dressed as Robin Hood and Little John (they like the original book), and my youngest dressed as a Paw Patrol puppy. They came up with their costumes with stuff we had around the house already, so they got to be creative without spending any money. My wife sewed some “ears” on a knitted stocking cap for the puppy and put makeup on his nose.
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