Halloween

I feel pretty mixed about Halloween. There isn't a lot in the holiday that glorifies God, but it also seems wrong to deny participating in some good clean fun. To me it seems that refusing to acknowledge Halloween might turn some people off from Christianity, but I really go back and forth on this. Maybe I'm rationalizing and don't know it.

The past few years, we've dressed up but pretty much ignored trick-or-treating. This year Elizabeth has been excited about it for the past month! Her preschool had a "Creation Party" on Halloween, where the kids dressed up like something from creation and ate lots of candy and sweets. (Guess how much she enjoyed this!) We've always done princess costumes made out of her dress-up clothes so that we don't have to pay them, so I made her into "starry night" with a star garland from the dollar store.

Then in the evening, we went to North Height's Fall Kids Carnival. It was really fun. Elizabeth got to pick any dress-up clothes she wanted. She decided to be Belle from Beauty and the Beast. However, she's never seen the movie so she thought that wearing yellow made her into Belle. She wore her bright yellow dance leotard and tutu, and proclaimed herself "Elizabeth Queen Belle." People were confused when they asked who she was, but she loved it. Now I'll get to see how sequins come out when you try to wash the cotton candy and Snocone out of them!

The carnival had TONS of candy, giant inflatables, carnival games, a petting zoo, concessions, and a variety show. Amelie slept most of the time in the Baby Bjorn, and Elizabeth had a blast. She really went crazy in the jumping castles and big slides.

Between preschool, my godparents, and the carnival, Elizabeth received a full gallon bag of candy. We told her that she got to pick 10 special pieces to have as "no-asking candy," and she could eat one piece a day without asking. The rest we contributed to our candy drawer to be "sharing candy" that everyone can eat. She's such an agreeable, easy-going kid that she's fine with that and is excited about her 10 pieces.