Halloween at Home

Isn't that a great picture? Ben and his classmates carved this pumpkin in their class this week. They put the three boys' names in a bowl, drew out a winner - and it was Ben! He was so tickled!

We had quite a plethora of pumpkins by the time Halloween arrived. This summer we discovered that some volunteer pumpkin vines had sprung up near Roy's kennel. I ended up harvesting six or seven small pumpkins off that. Then, Dorothy brought us 4 good sized pumpkins from her garden. And then we had this one from school.

I love Halloween. I know there are numerous Christians who find Christianity and Halloween incompatible. I can certainly respect their beliefs and I try to be a little quieter on the subject when I know they're around. Paul and I examined the issue when the boys were small and decided that we couldn't see any Biblical basis for not participating in the holiday. We both have such good memories of Halloween from our own childhoods and it wasn't something we wanted to deny our own boys. We do stay away from ghosts and witches because, in the demonic kingdom, there are real ones of those. I guess if God ever convicts us otherwise, we'll reconsider, but for now, we embrace the scary night with gusto!

It helps that we live in a small town that also loves Halloween. Every year we have a bonfire and hayride the Sat. before Halloween. About every 6 years it works out that trick or treating and the bonfire happen on the same night. That's the way it was this year. And I had not made it to the bonfire since before Sam's birth. So this ended up being a great year. I took the boys trick or treating, which was first. Normally, Paul does that. Ben didn't' want to go this year, so he stayed home and handed out treats. I had to dissuade him from the notion of querying every child as to their preferences and then choosing candy accordingly!

Our mayor is a big kid, so this year he planned some extra Halloween treats for our hayride. He was mum about everything, but I did happen to notice that a nearby field had yellow police tape on it earlier on Sat. I figured that was part of the gig, and sure enough, it was.

We had zombies running at our hayride, shooting silly string. One of them was Will, which totally surprised us! He hadn't wanted to go down to the bonfire when we did and said he'd come later. He still hadn't made an appearance by the time we were loading up on the wagon. I just figured he wasn't going this year. What I didn't know was that he had been heading down the hill to the festivities when our mayor intercepted him and asked him to play a zombie role. So we were totally shocked when one of the zombies pulled off his mask and jumped on the wagon and it was Will!

Later on in the field we had zombies on lawn tractors and one with a chainsaw (probably not such a smart idea, running in the dark, in a field, with a running saw). It was great - such a good family time, as well as time with the townspeople. Sam kept declaring, "I not scared!"

These are memories that the boys will take with them. When their lives are busy and they're living in a large cities, around the end of every October, they'll wistfully remember the Swan Halloween festivities and wish that they could be home, once again.

Or else they'll be amazed at what Biblical ignoramuses their parents were and marvel that they turned out so well, despite being subjected to such obvious Satanic practices!