I despise Halloween. Wait, despise may be a harsh word. I loathe Halloween. It really leaves a bad taste in my mouth, despite all the chocolate that accompanies it.
I appreciate that it has become a social holiday, when kids dress in cutesy costumes and have parades at school. But there are evil forces out there, and bad things happen on Halloween night.
I’d just as soon turn off our porch lights on the 31st and be done with it. But now that we have children, I feel very conflicted. Do I ban Halloween from our family traditions and calendar, and risk my boys feeling left out on this day each year? Or do I give in to the social pressure and just keep it “fun” and let them dress up?
Thankfully our church (like many others) hosts a Harvest Festival on October 31 each year. Yes, it’s an attempt to sanitize an ugly custom. But it has become a huge outreach to the church’s downtown community, with more than 400 neighborhood friends attending and receiving a free dinner, games and candy, as well as hearing Bible stories and taking home a Spanish-language Bible.
So I will begrudgingly dress my boys up and take them to church on Halloween night. We’ll have fun and take pictures and I’ll count down the minutes until we can go home. Is it November yet?
Oh, and one more thing on the topic of costumes.
Since when does Halloween make it okay for girls to dress in a provocative and revealing manner? Why does “sexy” have to become the prefix for every disguise? Sexy nurse? Sexy cheerleader? Sexy saloon girl? What’s next… Sexy Candy Corn?
Come on, ladies. Have some pride. Cover your assets and be confident in who you are, not what you can show off. Know your worth and demand the respect you deserve.
OK, I’m getting off my shoebox now.
Crazy huh?!?! I went into the Halloween store yesterday to get a costume for Cameron and was walking around the aisles. Saw some CUTE baby costumes, but just as I rounded the corner I was slammed in the face with everything sexy for GIRLS. Then I turned the corner again to get to the "teen" section and I think there was more skin showing in the pictures than material needed to make the costume. Sad!
ReplyDeleteHowever, I think you raise your boys with fantastic morals and they will know right from wrong when it comes to Halloween. You are a very beautiful mother and it shows in your children.
Thank you, Shelly. And Anabelle has a phenomenal example in you - what a role model for her to look up to! What did you end up buying for Cam? He can be the scarecrow or lion or tin man!
ReplyDeleteDo they create graveyard scenes in front yards on the west coast? In the last decade or so I think I've seen more severed heads, hoary ghouls and bloody body parts in the month of October than pumpkins.
ReplyDeleteWe never had these things when we were kids and I'm getting peeved.
isn't there a difference between "sexy" and "SLUTTY"?
ReplyDelete"I'm going to be a sexy librarian for halloween" "No. You're going to be a Slut." period.
(sorry for all your badvelis out there, I probably made you blush with my colorful language.)
Ara (by the way - please help me out... which Ara is this?) - yes, lots of ghoulish scenes and decorations, if you can call them that. Back in August when the Halloween stuff hit all the stores, I had to explain to my 2-1/2 and 5 year olds why a skeleton is considered a decoration. Why?
ReplyDeleteAnd Kathleen, you took the words out of my mouth. I was trying to be nice by calling them "sexy" but what I really did want to say is "slutty" because that's what they are. And then girls wonder why they're not treated respectfully. Is that really the kind of attention they want? Or, sadly, is any attention welcomed?