I love Halloween!!

I have a few friends who don't celebrate Halloween. I also have been thinking about it more since Halloween fell on a Sunday this year. So, maybe I should clarify a little. I love kiddie halloween. I love the dressing up, using your imagination, playing pretend, visiting neighbors, and getting candy. Yes, the overload of chocolate helps alot :). I know that the creepy, eery, scary part of halloween can get out of hand. But, isn't that a big part of "being in the world, not of the world." How else can we be an example of the believers and bring some good into other's lives? We cannot if we are hiding in our homes, pretending that holidays aren't happening all around us. I loved watching Matt (8) this year. He is really into clues and being a detective. He even takes a whole "clue kit" to school and has a club at recess. They solve mysteries. So, when he bought some "spy glasses" with a Hardy Boys book from the book order, his costume was born. He wears his glasses and said all he needed was a magnifying glass. We also dug out a trench coat that used to be grandma's or grandpa's. Then, I found a black fedora hat at the store. He also said he needed camo, to blend in. Okay...whatever you want. I loved that he pulled his hat down so hard his ears stuck straight out. I loved that he would inspect his candy with his magnifying class. I also loved the kick that our neighbors and his school teacher got out of him. Mrs. Gibbs said, "That costume is just perfect for his personality, just perfect." Abby was a witch last year, but we have this perfect dress that Steffany made for Alexis. I don't want to waste it. This year we added a broom that we spray-painted and decorated. We braided spiders into her hair and she perfected her witch laugh. I loved her cute poses and how she always wanted to be riding on her broom. Olivia is lucky, her birthday is the 3rd of October. She has gotten a halloween costume for her birthday the last two years. Then we can find something that costs just a bit more and throw it in the dress-ups later. She was Abby's black cat that rides on the back of her witchy broom. She was going to be all-black, until we saw a really cute purple skirt that she loved. "A black cat, with a purply skirt is okay, mom?" "Most definitely!!!" Thayne ended up being a pink pig. This one was by default. It is a warm costume that fit him perfect. A week ago he learned to oink and grunt, so it made it really cute. I have this pink pig that I bought for Matt, thinking that all the kids could wear it, but so far, only the boys have...ah well. One really great change this year was that Martin was home!!! He usually has football games, but none fell on Halloween this year. (Malad FB sidenote: they are undefeated and in the playoffs for state!!! Go Dragons!!) Martin ended up throwing on some cowboy clothes at the last minute cause there was a football game on tv and he didn't want to miss a second :). I had found a purple and green wig for my costume that I wanted to wear, I guess my costume just...went downhill from there :) No, I don't usually dress up, but it was really fun this year. I liked how Olivia loved my wig and wanted me to wear it to church--I didn't, and how Abby let me wear her sparkly skirt. She even said I could borrow it all the time...I don't think I'll need it anytime soon, but it was sure fun to surprise our neighbors at the trunk-or-treat. We have a big party in the parking lot and then go into the gym and have chili and cornbread. There are always those in our area that this is the only time of year we see them and get to visit with them. I know that we are lucky that we live in a predominantly LDS community so we didn't have to face any opposition to not celebrate on the Sabbath. I did wear black and orange to church yesterday and had a blast looking through pictures and eating candy with my kids!! Happy Halloween!