Halloweinie.

I hate Halloween. I find the entire holiday to be cheap and in bad taste. I think it's a huge waste of effort, imagination and mind space. Seeing women dress up like harlots to party...cheapening women. Seeing dead bodies and tombstones on front lawns...cheapening death. See rows of polyester costumes in department stores...cheapening imaginations. I may be a scrooge, but I think the world has taken Halloween from a charming children's holiday to a ridiculous charade of morbid fun. Blech.

That said...I have children. Since toddlers don't know what "cheap" and "morbid" mean, I'm here trying to figure out ways to pretend the holiday is innocent and sweet. Fall is such a fun and charming time, everyone abuzz with thoughts of the holidays. I hate that Halloween is the lead-in to an otherwise wonderful season.

I don't stop the trick-or-treating or the celebrations, but I do insist that the holiday revolve around imagination and magical childhood things. I think 10 will be our cutoff for trick-or-treating, and until then, costumes have to be either traditional (pumpkins, ghosts, cats, etc) or entirely innocent. No 5-year-old serial killers and the like. I also HATE plastic pumpkins and cartoon character costumes. I feel like the only way Halloween won't spiral out of control is by assuming the innocence of bygone days. We stay out of the Halloween superstores, we avoid the Halloween aisle at the grocery store and generally celebrate Fall and the advent of Advent. I don't think this comes from a religious standpoint so much as I feel Halloween has always felt so focused on greed for me. Adults clamoring for attention at parties, children clamoring for candy in costumes, the whole thing has always left me feeling unsettled and "blah." Even as a kid, I loved the costumes and the parties, but trick-or-treating was always uncomfortable for me, going door-to-door to strangers' houses, waiting for candy. I just feel like waiting for Halloween robs the season of the charm of Autumn, and that makes me sad.

My own issues aside, we're very busy preparing for the big day! Lucy is excited and Molly is...confused? I'm very busy getting their cute little Halloween costumes put together and trying to construct adorable treat bags for the big night. I'm going to keep them a secret for now, but it'll be worth the wait! Can't wait to see them in their matching costumes!