Happy Fall!

I love autumn. It is my absolute favorite time of the year. I love the cooler weather (still waiting for that), football, the leaves changing to all shades of beautiful. I love fall flowers -- mums, orange, yellow and peach roses. I love pumpkins -- the way they look, the way they smell. I love Krispy Kreme pumpkin spice doughnuts, sold only during this one glorious time of the year. Ahhhhh....how I love fall and everything that comes with it. Well, almost everything.

Growing up, I remember thinking, "My family must be the only family in the world who doesn't celebrate halloween." While all my friends were talking about what they were going to dress up as and where they were planning to trick or treat, I remained silent. I never had anything to add to the conversation. I knew I wouldn't be shopping for a costume or walking around town collecting candy. I wouldn't be participating in anything having to do with halloween. Halloween was not something to be celebrated. It was, more or less, the devil's holiday.

Everyone has his/her own opinion of halloween and what this day signifies, but does anyone really KNOW what it is? Can anyone tell me the TRUE origin of Halloween? I did some (a little) internet research and found all kinds of contradicting information. Some people say the holiday originated as a pagan holiday. Others say, it is actually a Christian holiday. With so many different perspectives, who knows what to believe? But, if halloween truly is a Christian holiday, judging by what I see and hear, I'd say we've definitely veered way off track.

Now that I am a parent, I have a whole new appreciation for my parents' approach to halloween. For several weeks now, retail stores have been decked out in all their halloween decor. They have special halloween departments where you can buy candy and spooky decorations to turn your house into a haunted mansion. The problem with these displays is they are not toddler / preschooler friendly. For example, when we're in Target, I now have to walk down the pet food aisle to avoid walking past a particularly creepy looking skeleton wearing a top hat and trench coat. The first time we saw it, Jacob said, "I don't yike (like) the pirate. I don't yike the pirate." To him, a skeleton is a pirate, thanks to the Pirates of the Caribean ride at Disney World. All I could think was, "Great. Now, my three year old is going to have nightmares and all I did was take him to Target." Another time, we stopped at Walgreens so I could pick up something. Heath waited in the car with the kids while I walked in. Every window in that store was covered by some sort of scary image, so Heath ended up moving the car so he wouldn't be facing the building. The fact is, whether seeing these things scares Jacob and Annabelle or not, I really don't want to expose them to these images. Not yet, anyway. Why would I want to do that?

A friend and I were talking last night about halloween. At a checkout counter somewhere, she had seen a display of plastic machetes that, when waved around, looked like they were covered in blood. Why? Are these things really necessary? Does a child, or an adult for that matter, need to be walking around with a plastic, blood covered machete????? Ummmmmm....I don't think so.

I don't have a problem with costumes. I like to play dress up just as much as the next person. And I don't have a problem dressing kids up in costumes. Costumes are cute. They are fun. What I don't like is seeing kids and their parents dressed up as witches, demons, or bloody villians from horror movies. I mean, is this really a good thing?

While my family never celebrated halloween, most years, our church held some sort of fall festival event, which was always fun. So, even though I didn't go trick or treating, I still came home with more candy than any kid should be allowed to have.

Ok. So, I'm not a big fan of halloween...whatever it is. I will never be one of those people who sends out "Happy Halloween!" cards and you won't ever hear me wish you a happy halloween. Too bad stores don't sell "Happy Fall!" cards. Now, that's something I could get into!

Don't worry. My children will not be deprived. I will dress them up in cute costumes every year and they will have their fair share of candy. There may even be a little trick or treating. BUT, we will not be celebrating halloween. We will be celebrating fall......and the return of the pumpkin spice doughnut :)