Thoughts on Halloween

Today is Halloween.

Hoo......ray.

My excitement level - as far as Halloween is concerned - is probably at an all-time low. 

In fact, as far as holidays go, Halloween is probably one of my least favorite (only St. Patrick's Day trumps it on the "Apathy Scale").

As a recently-diagnosed diabetic with two small children to clothe/feed, I find that copious amounts of sugary candy and expensive costumes now have only a fraction of the appeal they once had. 

I know what you're thinking: 

"But Jeremy, you need to be excited about Halloween for the sake of your children! Don't you want them to enjoy it as much as you did?"

Be quiet.

Of course I want my children to enjoy Halloween (eventually), but since neither one of them is really old enough to know what's going on right now, you'll have to forgive me if I'm less than pumped about it this year.

Part of it simply comes from the fact that Halloween seems to get kind of "old" to me, as the years go by. I mean, it's just the same old thing, year after year. 

I think, just to shake things up a bit, we should change Halloween from year to year. You know, just to keep people on their toes. 

Here are some possible ideas:

1. Instead of watching scary movies, we could watch historical documentaries of people from other countries

2. Instead of bobbing for apples, we could bob for chicken breast

3. Instead of dressing our children up as super heroes, ghosts, vampires, etc., we could dress them up as our favorite City Councilman or our best friend from college

4. Instead of giving out candy at every house, we could give out tire gauges and magnifying glasses

5. Instead of rolling our neighbor's yards with toilet paper, we could knock on their door and simply tell them, "There's a wolf on your roof!". And then when they come out to check, we can run inside their house, lock them out, and stand in front of their front window, drinking their soda, pointing at them and laughing maniacally. We could call it "Wolfing". 

[I haven't figured out an exit strategy for Wolfing yet, but I don't think it will be a problem]

6. Instead of teaching our kids to say "Trick or Treat" when they knock on a door, we could teach them to say random words like "Portable" or "Therefore"

7. Instead of doing cake walks, we could do cake tosses. I'm not sure how it would work, but I think it would be lots of fun

8. Instead of having witches riding on brooms, we could upgrade them to vacuum cleaners 

9. Instead of jumping out of bushes and scaring people, we could cut down bushes and throw them at cats

10. Instead of sitting around campfires, roasting marshmallows and telling ghost stories, we could stand around puddles, spitting into them and talking about finance (and maybe politics)

These are just some ideas. Feel free to contribute some of your own if you like. 

As I understand it, Halloween has evolved over the years/decades into something that is very different from what it was, originally.

Originally, I doubt that anyone who called themselves a "Christian" would have wanted anything to do with this event; but now, our churches hold special "Fall Festivals" and "Trunk-or-Treats" during this time and we embrace this holiday as a time for families to have fun and spend time together. 

I think that's ok, and I think it's actually a good "shift" for this particular holiday to make. 

Who knows what Halloween will look like in another 50 years? It could be very different than what it is now, couldn't it? 

As a people, we tend to fashion things into what we want them to be, no matter how they started out, don't we? We cut and paste, add and subtract, and generally make things into something that fits/suits us, personally, don't we? 

We change recipes because maybe we don't like some of the ingredients.

We order sweet tea and then add more sugar because it isn't sweet enough.

We buy cars and then spend thousands of dollars turning them into something very different than what we bought.

We play board games and make up our own rules (I'm talking to you, Brooke)

There is nothing wrong with doing any of these things...except for that last one.

But isn't it sad that many have done this with Christianity, faith, and even with the Bible?

It seems as if some look at these sacred, God-given concepts and say, "I like it, but I'd change this", or "That's good, but it would be better if we took this out". 

When it comes to holidays, I don't know that it matters what we do with them, but when it comes to God's Word and what it has to say about Christianity, salvation, worship, etc.....it absolutely does matter. 

God has spoken. 

We simply need to listen, and obey. 

But when it comes to Halloween, do whatever you want to with that. 

I don't care. 

Just be careful when you go Wolfing, because you might get arrested. 

Or shot.