Matt and I both grew up trick-or-treating, dressing up, gorging ourselves on candy, attending Halloween parties, and doing all those festive things that normal kids do. Now that Rhino is walking, most people have assumed that he would be going trick-or-treating this year and ask me what he will be. Well, I’m all for tiny kids dressed up in sweet little costumes. Rhino has the greatest monkey pajamas that make me just die of cuteness overload! But, he’s not dressing up for Halloween. No, not even as something nice like a puppy dog or a super hero. Or even as Moses or an angel.

Matt and I have been talking about it on and off all year, actually. Should we celebrate Halloween? What’s the harm? We both did and we turned out okay. It kept coming up again and again though because it just didn’t sit right with us. A lot of people in our church don’t celebrate Halloween and until last year I had never questioned the holiday. I know just because kids trick-or-treat it doesn’t mean they’ll grow up to worship Satan. I know that plenty of good people see nothing wrong with Halloween. I wanted to do some research and see what it is exactly that we have been participating in.

Well we did a lot of reading and found some interesting history. We were given a tract about Halloween a little while ago that pretty much sums it all up. Some of the points are not as important to me or I see as a little extreme. We have decided that it’s not something that we need to participate in. Even if we dress up, put up creepy decorations, and trick-or-treat without intending to be sinister, it is still imitating a tradition that definitely not Godly. There are plenty of opportunities for our boys to have fun and we will enjoy other traditions, but I think this is one that we can do without. Plus, all that candy? Hoooboy! I know, we’re such a killjoy!