Halloween 2010

We are big on Halloween at our house...we LOVE it. We love decorating our house and dressing up and thinking of new ways that we can be spooky.

First, I know, blah blah blah Halloween was on a Sunday. Don't get me wrong, I respect the Sabbath Day, but hear me out.

Big deal. I must confess, I didn't really know the origins of Halloween and didn't know if perhaps it was a "bad" thing and then I thought, well, duh, most mainstream Christian religions wouldn't even celebrate it is were unholy. Then I wanted to know more. Did you know that Halloween actually began as a Celtic religious holiday? It actually began a very holy, and spiritual rite that was to invite the spirits of their loved ones who had passed on. They didn't even carve pumpkins--they carved gords and turnips and lit a candle to invite their loved one's spirits. Food was left for good spirits and and masks were to scare away bad ones, as well as the flame from the candle.

The information I found revealed that it was European settlers who began carving pumpkins out of the convenience of their larger size and it was those same Europeans who turned it into tradition about candy and spookiness and all around trick-or-treating.

That said, I don't think there's anything wrong with Halloween, I enjoy it and I don't care what day it falls on, that is they day that my family will celebrate and participate in it. Also, just a sidenote: this last Halloween was the first time that in 9 years Lane went trick or treating with me and the girls (he usually passes out the candy, because afterall, we're decked out with major decorations here), but this year, gramma and grampa Trammell were here and passed out our candy for us. Well, needless to say, as we walked around, Lane said, "You know, I have met and talked to more people in this neighborhood in this one night than I have in nine years!" Now tell me that's not a good thing.

So here we have it....Halloween 2010