Friday, October 31, 2008

Boo Humbug

Halloween has basically snuck up on us this year. Gee, how could that happen? Let me see: I have FOUR sick kids, I think my mono has made me extra tired this past week, our house is still so unsettled. This bums me out because I love Halloween, and the anticipation of Halloween. Every year we bake Halloween cookies in the shape of pumpkins and little witches, and after trick or treating we watch the Charlie Brown "Great Pumpkin" movie while feasting on candy. Well, my cookie cutters are packed away, and I don't know where. Locating the video will be a lot like looking for a needle in a haystack (or, a needle in our garage that is filled with boxes, one of which contains my beloved cookie cutters.) You get the picture.

This morning I spilled my coffee all.over.the.floor. (Right after Anna spilled her milk all.over.the.floor.) That's when I knew what kind of a day it would be!

Will the Heldt kids be joining all the other little goblins and ghosts this evening for tricks and treats? Only time will tell! (And if you live in Denver and hear faint hacking and coughing when your doorbell rings, I'd advise wearing a mask to answer it. We are a germ factory over here!)

As for me, I think I'll be dressing up as a grouchy, disgruntled stay-at-home-mom. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!!!!!

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi there! This post cracks me up! I have three children ages four and under with another due in Jan. Your writing rings true to me in so many ways!

Keep up the hard work! Sarah in Ohio

Rachel said...

I hope you guys made it out for a few houses at least. We did a few houses than headed home to enjoy the spoils!

Anonymous said...

You are hilarious. :) Halloween is overrated so don't worry. The real treat is your four!

Joanie said...

Amen to Carolina Mama. Aw, Brianna, what a bummer. I remember you were describing how refreshing your prospective church's celebration would be, too.
Hope you got to go.

Here in CA we just went to Panda Express and called it a day due to slight illness and too much candy and excitement already this week!

Anonymous said...

why do you celebrate death, witches, gosts?

joy said...

sorry about the hard day. and I had the same costume as you!

andy gibson said...

"why do you celebrate death, witches, gosts?"

Hahahahahahaha. Brianna, your blog really bring out the crackers. First you're voting for Obama (or not...), and now you celebrate death, witches and gosts...which I think they meant gHosts. Shame on you (or not....).

andy gibson said...

brings, not bring.

Jeannett said...

Classic. What IS it with your anonymous readers???

Bummer you guys are sick. Hope you feel better...we missed trick or treating with you this year! :(

Jenna Hoskinson said...

Hi Brianna,

I hope you won't be offended at this comment, but I, too, was actually curious about the fact that you thought the trading cards or whatever they were that you got in the mail were new-age-y, yet you do celebrate halloween. We do halloween, too, but this year with having our baby a bit older than last year, I really started thinking about it and wondering if we shouldn't be praying about whether or not our family will continue to celebrate halloween. I have some friends who are not and I can totally see their reasoning. We went to a neihbor's party and honestly I felt a little uncomfortable about the whole holiday for the first time in my life. Anyways, I honestly am looking for opinions on this matter.

Hope you guys had fun no matter what you decided to to!

Brianna Heldt said...

HA! Okay can I just say that this, among many other reasons, is why I love Andy and Jeannett?! And miss them terribly! (Jeannett, it's high time you write that post...:) )

Anonymous, if you want to have a real conversation, sign your name and we'll talk.

Jenna, nope, not offended. :) The new-age cards had words and messages on them that directly went against some things I believe and had no added value. As for celebrating Halloween vs. not celebrating Halloween, it's an American tradition that for us includes dressing up in fun costumes, eating candy and meeting our neighbors (like it does for most people). As for witches and ghosts, they can also be found throughout literature. (Chronicles of Narnia and Dickens, for example.) So how far do you take it?

If you celebrate the harvest by dressing up in costumes, eating candy and attending festivals on or around October 31st, frankly, you are participating in Halloween. Because that's what Halloween IS, and it originated with...the pagan celebration of HARVEST. Many Christmas traditions originated with the pagans too. So again, how far do you take it?

My kids aren't scared of the Halloween decorations we see in the store. They aren't obsessed with them either. They don't wear gory costumes or watch gory things. If someone feels convicted about Halloween, then they should do what their conscience tells them. But I have a hard time with someone who dresses their child up in a costume on October 31st, takes them somewhere for candy, yet insists that THEY'RE in the right for celebrating "harvest", and I'M in the WRONG for celebrating "Halloween." Same origins, same activities. Some people may take Halloween too far, but that has nothing to do with me. There are people who don't recognize the birth of Christ in their Christmas celebrations for that matter, but again, that has nothing to do with MY Christmas.

There's obviously room and freedom for Christians to disagree on these matters. We all have different lines and boundaries. Hopefully this has given you some insight into my own. People will say I'm a hypocrite but we can all sit and pick apart how people work out their respective faiths!

I probably have other thoughts too but this comment is quite lengthy already, and I'm tired! :)

andy gibson said...

"But I have a hard time with someone who dresses their child up in a costume on October 31st, takes them somewhere for candy, yet insists that THEY'RE in the right for celebrating "harvest", and I'M in the WRONG for celebrating "Halloween." Same origins, same activities."

Amen Sister. And that is why I love Kevin and Brianna Heldt. You will be called a hypocrite, but I think it's those you called out (see above) that are the hypocrites and frankly, make Christians look it to the unsaved world. Just my opinion, but I've been thinking that for a couple of weeks now...glad I got it off my chest...on your blog...hahaha :).

Brianna Heldt said...

Hehe, Andy, I still maintain that YOU need to start a blog. It's election season and everything--imagine all the thought-provoking posts and discussion!!!

Jeannett said...

If it walks like a duck and it talks like a duck...you can call it whatever you want, but it's still a duck.

I too, have never understood how people can say they don't celebrate Halloween, but they dress up, eat candy, and carve pumpkins...on OCTOBER 31st. If you don't like Halloween, then October 31st should be no different than October 30th and November 1st. That would be fine in my book. But I agree that otherwise it smacks of hypocrisy and certainly paints Christians in a less than favorable light.

Just about anything we do can probably be attributed to pagan or secular roots (Easter eggs, Christmas trees, stockings...). I think it's all about approach and (when they are old enough) honesty with your kids when explaining why they can't dress up like ax murderers, etc. You can explain how SOME PEOPLE celebrate this day...but that's not how our family does it...and why. Every family has to decide where they draw their lines. If they feel that Halloween is a line they must draw, that's perfectly fine. But draw the line...don't pretend it's there when it's not.

Yikes, struck a chord, eh? :)

 

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