How My Christian Family is Celebrating Halloween

I love Autumn. I love the crunch of the leaves when I walk, the coziness of warm sweaters and boots, my hand wrapped around a coffee sweetened with some sort of pumpkin flavoring, and the joy of harvest as the farmers experience the relief and satisfaction of bringing in the fruit of their labor.
That being said, I also cringe a lot this time of year. It's also the time we celebrate Halloween and it's a holiday I'm just not sure what to do about. Maybe you're with me. You get uncomfortable with the witches and ghosts and scary movies and zombie decorations on your neighbors lawn. You aren't a fan of your children demanding candy in return for an agreement to not vandalize the neighborhood. Maybe you think a holiday shouldn't be an excuse to dress in incredibly revealing or inappropriate clothing. Or most of all, as a Christian, the holiday of Halloween seems to be more against your beliefs than aligned with them.
The problem is, it's not the holiday that's the problem, it's the way we celebrate it. I had the initial reaction many years ago to just avoid the holiday all together and not celebrate it, writing it off as an unimportant holiday about candy and one more excuse for a party. But I quickly found out I was wrong (first time ever, ha!).
Halloween is a Catholic holiday, a celebration of All Saints Day, a day that has become quite lost in the commercialized celebration of Halloween.  On All Saints Day (Nov 1) we remember and celebrate all the Holy men and women in heaven. There are a bunch of great reasons that this is important, but the one on my heart today is the power and importance of knowing someone else has been there too. In my current jump into parenting 4 young children, I have found myself drawn to and reaching out to anyone else who has parented twins or multiple young children, or children with disabilities. Asking questions about how they did things (aka survived) and getting advice (they give more practical tips than just "start closet drinking" that people with only two kids give). But most importantly, it brings me so much encouragement just to know someone else has done this before.
It can be done.
It can be done well.
It can even be done gracefully.
When I see these families, then I know that I can do it to. I can learn from them, but most of all,
I am inspired by them.
The Saints do exactly that for us. They have been in our shoes, ordinary people facing difficult situations, and their beautiful witness of the way they followed Christ serves as a lesson and source of inspiration for us.
Their stories tell us following Christ can be done.
It can even be done gracefully.

So, what do we do about Halloween then with it's devil costumes, and bloody murder victims on the kids walk to school? Well after a lot of thought, here's how my Christian family is celebrating Halloween:

Attending Mass for All Saints Day.
Because going trick or treating and not going to Mass is like opening presents but not going to Christmas Mass. Pray for, honor and celebrate all our loved ones at this Mass! This is what Halloween is all about. Just like with all the holidays (Christmas, Easter, etc) make sure all the activities point to Mass and that it's the main event, not just "fit it" around the other stuff.

Carving pumpkins.
There are a lot of stories about the origins of this tradition, I'll let you google for yourselves. It can be a fun one if done right. Some talk about God scooping out the bad and putting his light inside of us while carving. Others carve Christian images like crosses. We are going to start our own tradition and use the opportunity to honor our family who have passed away by carving their initials, names, or something that reminds us of them, and say a prayer for them when we light the candle.

Costumes.
Dressing up is so fun for kids and adults. The important thing for me is to keep costumes on the fun side and not scary. It's supposed to be a celebration of life, not death! Some people chose to dress up like a saint and learn about them in the process - awesome if you are an organized mom! (Maybe when my kids get older we will do this, this year they are getting tossed into whatever cow/puppy/superhero costume has been handed down from their cousins.) I think no matter what you dress up as it's a good opportunity to talk about how there are no limitations with God and what He might ask us to do or be!

Host a Party/Visit the Elderly
There are a few great options for what do do once you're all dressed up. We chose not to let our kids go door-to-door for quite a few reasons, this is a personal choice and doesn't mean it can't be a fun way to celebrate by bringing joy to friends and family. We either invite friends to our house for a Halloween party where we can control the atmosphere and decorations and the kids still get tons of candy, or visit our local Nursing Home where the residents hand out candy and enjoy seeing the kids in costume. Consider going on a different day and handing out candy TO the residents and staff instead. Teaching kids the joy of giving just like the saints! I've also seen kids go door to door asking for donations for the food shelf instead of candy.

Candy.
Ok, any excuse to eat candy is a good one, but this especially is an opportunity to celebrate Heaven. It's a joy to be a Christian remember?! Because the end of our story is happy!! If you hand out candy to trick-or-treaters, being joyful Christians is a witness in itself! But if you want to go further, consider taping a bible verse or prayer to the candy.


I think the important thing to remember is to continue reminding our kids (and ourselves) through the ways that we celebrate just WHY we celebrate. Halloween has gotten to where it is today because the message got lost. Unfortunately I can't control that someone on a street I drive by has hanging corpses in a tree and I have to try to avert my 4-year-old's eyes or spend the rest of the drive answering his questions about it and the rest of the night soothing him after night mares from scary commercials he saw on TV. What I can do is "be the change I wish to see" (Gandhi). My family can celebrate the Eve of All Saints Day in a fun way as we keep the night holy. Happy Celebrating!!