Halloween: To Celebrate or Not to Celebrate?

That is the question, but what is the answer?

What we should really be celebrating is All Saints Day on Nov. 1, but does that mean I shouldn't let my kids do anything "Halloweenish" tomorrow? Phil keeps saying that it is a pagan holiday, yet he used to go trick-or-treating (as did I) when he was younger. Should we just look at it as a fun activity to have the kids dress up and get free candy, and then make sure to tell them that we are really celebrating All Saints Day?

Normally, at the boys' school, all of the children dress up as Saints for All Saints Day, but because it falls on a Saturday, the boys don't get to do that this year. I really liked having them dress up as saints because it made Halloween seem so much less important.

Since John-Paul is only 5, and Andrew is 4, they don't really KNOW what Halloween is about yet, so we usually just skip the trick-or-treating, and let them march in a Parade a couple towns away from here. They think it's a blast! Then we got invited to go to a hayride on Halloween night, which they will also love.

So I think we have made a good compromise this year, a parade and a hayride instead of normal Halloween stuff. But I know I will question what to do next year...we need answers.

Here's pictures of the boys from last year. John-Paul is Pope John Paul II and Andrew is Saint Francis:




Ahhh, if only they were really that saintly!