Two years ago we took Sweet Pea trick or treating for the first time. As Christian parents we wanted to raise our son in the world and not of it. Therefore our rule was only nice Halloween costumes and so we went to our families neighborhood and went "golf cart" trick or treating in style with our little 18 mo. old boy dressed as a jack-o-lantern. We walked him up to doors, taught him to say "trick or treat" and sometimes we walked him up to doors with "elaborate" decor. He had a fun time and enjoyed his candy. We thought to ourselves, "what a perfect Halloween. Driving a golf cart from home to home, told by all what an adorable little boy, and wow he got the BEST candy ever."..you know the good big candy."
And so his first official Halloween came to an end..fast forward a year latter. A 2.5 yr old and 7 month old a few days before Halloween we are all ready to go out again in style like the year before. And then suddenly, in such a way only God can, we started learning through word of mouth, emails, and Internet searches the orgins of Halloween. After learning the true meaning and searching through scripture we could find no peace in participating any longer. We don't carry any judgement or criticism with ourselves for our past ignorance to the truth of that day, all of our past is washed in the blood of Jesus and we are so thankful for His leading and opening our hearts and minds to hearing and receiving His word. (Leviticus 18:30, Deut 18:9, Col 3:2) And because God is only good and perfect we were presented with an opportunity to go to a fall festival. A safe place no symbols of Halloween or talk of it. Only the Love of Christ, Lots of candy, toys, games, trains, animals and bounce houses and so much more.( Our little Sweet pea wore his costume and had a blast...it was officially more perfect than the year before. So this year Sweet Pea is now 3 and of course watching cartoons and has a sharp mind and is picking up on the world around him. We had an opportunity to go to another churches celebration this year before our own. It was hard. We felt deceived when we arrived. (obviously by the enemy not people) Most of the trunks were filled with gross images of Halloween. In fact there were only 2 cars out of about 30 that we would allow our kids to walk up too. My heart hurt. This was at a church in and on church property. Not judging anyone or the church at all. I was just reminded of how I once walked in darkness..I didn't know any better ( Ephesians 2 :1-8). I try to imagine Christ with me and standing there in that parking lot looking at these same images and I can't imagine Him saying..."It's o.k as long as you are dressed in nice costumes to participate....or encourage this by taking part."(Ephe 6:12,Matthew 21:13) And so it ended we went home, and thankful that God used this as a teachable moment in my life as a parent. A few days later we had our fall fest. I'll write all about it in the next post. Of course it was so fun and perfect.
Now that Sweet Pea 3 and is watching cartoons and they are all Halloween themed it seems now. The day of our fall fest I told him all about the fun activities we would be doing and he added and "trick or treat?" and that is when it hit me I needed to be diligent in what was going on in his cartoons. For the most part we are very diligent in this area however it is so hard at times for us because We (me and hubby) are so desensitized to the theme of Halloween that I just completely missed this aspect. And so the next morning if a Halloween themed show came on I had to switch to another program. Let me just say meltdown, meltdown, meltdown from an otherwise very well behaved little boy. Sitting there listing to the screams I asked the Lord, "What do I do? He has no idea why his mommy just turned off his favorite show." Then I just felt like the Lord say this was a teachable moment. Ok I thought, "I am not to confident in what or how he will begin to understand this." It didn't matter, I was just to be obedient to Gods guiding and from there I knew he could fill in the gaps of understanding in my 3 yr old. So I put him in my lap and said, " Sweet Pea this show is talking about Halloween and things we do not participate in. Mommy is changing the channel so you can watch another show that is not talking about Halloween or trick or treating. It is not forever, you will get to watch your show again when they are not talking about such things." And just like that he was fine and enjoyed the alternative to his fav show.(Deut 6) Now this does require some work on my part, flipping around to different stations finding one that was not talking about Halloween.(prov 21:5, eph 4:3) Again God was so good to always provide an alternative. Today we went through the routine again and the first time he started to meltdown and so I sat down with him and reviewed what we talked bout the day before and that was good enough for him, just fine no meltdowns. I realized something along with many things one of the things he is starting to learn is self discipline. If he sees the content come on he is learning not to watch it....find another alternative...master it. It is hard to be a diligent parent in this area. Just walking through the community both children will see Halloween decor and say "what is that?" or in Cupcake words, "Dat?" My first response a few weeks back was one word and I left it at that, "Yucky" Now when they see this gross decor ( And I do emphasize the word gross...elaborate depictions of horror movies in peoples front yard..out of control decor) So now as we pass by the kids say, "that's yucky mommy." My goal is not that the kids would say this every time, but that they would give the decor no attention. And so the teachable moments continue. After they comment on the decor I remind them to give them no attention.
So the real adventure now is what do we do in place of Halloween? We want to start traditions now so by the time they get older they will not feel cheated...and I know they will not because this has been a God journey. Here is what we have decided, our work in progress. Our fall fest is The big replacement. Each kid gets a new fall outfit (yea they are kids I am sure they will be real excited about a new sweater and pants) and or if they want to dress up for fall fest in costume that is just fine with us. With all the activities of the fest it would be hard to ride the rides in costume so that is the only reason I didn't get a fall fest costume for them this year. In addition to the fact that I am such a "practical" person, I thought well this they can where all season...this they will only where for a few hours.
So then what do we do Halloween night? The night all their friends will be out trick or treating. A few ideas we are kicking around and hope to have perfected for next year. A massive Thanksgiving type diner or a special pizza, hot dog, nacho sncaky type night and lots of family fun. Either way this year we have told the kids we are having a party. The nice thing to a 3 yr old "party" means a cake or something with sprinkles on it...:)
( 1 John 4:1-6), eph 5:11) Do your own research and ask the Lord what He would like you to do.
Put on your armor ( Ephesians 6:13-18)
girded your loins with truth
breastplate of righteousness
feet of peace
shield of faith
helmet of salvation
sword of Spirit ( the Word Rhema of God)
vs 18 Prayer in the Spirit
New American Standard Bible
And so his first official Halloween came to an end..fast forward a year latter. A 2.5 yr old and 7 month old a few days before Halloween we are all ready to go out again in style like the year before. And then suddenly, in such a way only God can, we started learning through word of mouth, emails, and Internet searches the orgins of Halloween. After learning the true meaning and searching through scripture we could find no peace in participating any longer. We don't carry any judgement or criticism with ourselves for our past ignorance to the truth of that day, all of our past is washed in the blood of Jesus and we are so thankful for His leading and opening our hearts and minds to hearing and receiving His word. (Leviticus 18:30, Deut 18:9, Col 3:2) And because God is only good and perfect we were presented with an opportunity to go to a fall festival. A safe place no symbols of Halloween or talk of it. Only the Love of Christ, Lots of candy, toys, games, trains, animals and bounce houses and so much more.( Our little Sweet pea wore his costume and had a blast...it was officially more perfect than the year before. So this year Sweet Pea is now 3 and of course watching cartoons and has a sharp mind and is picking up on the world around him. We had an opportunity to go to another churches celebration this year before our own. It was hard. We felt deceived when we arrived. (obviously by the enemy not people) Most of the trunks were filled with gross images of Halloween. In fact there were only 2 cars out of about 30 that we would allow our kids to walk up too. My heart hurt. This was at a church in and on church property. Not judging anyone or the church at all. I was just reminded of how I once walked in darkness..I didn't know any better ( Ephesians 2 :1-8). I try to imagine Christ with me and standing there in that parking lot looking at these same images and I can't imagine Him saying..."It's o.k as long as you are dressed in nice costumes to participate....or encourage this by taking part."(Ephe 6:12,Matthew 21:13) And so it ended we went home, and thankful that God used this as a teachable moment in my life as a parent. A few days later we had our fall fest. I'll write all about it in the next post. Of course it was so fun and perfect.
Now that Sweet Pea 3 and is watching cartoons and they are all Halloween themed it seems now. The day of our fall fest I told him all about the fun activities we would be doing and he added and "trick or treat?" and that is when it hit me I needed to be diligent in what was going on in his cartoons. For the most part we are very diligent in this area however it is so hard at times for us because We (me and hubby) are so desensitized to the theme of Halloween that I just completely missed this aspect. And so the next morning if a Halloween themed show came on I had to switch to another program. Let me just say meltdown, meltdown, meltdown from an otherwise very well behaved little boy. Sitting there listing to the screams I asked the Lord, "What do I do? He has no idea why his mommy just turned off his favorite show." Then I just felt like the Lord say this was a teachable moment. Ok I thought, "I am not to confident in what or how he will begin to understand this." It didn't matter, I was just to be obedient to Gods guiding and from there I knew he could fill in the gaps of understanding in my 3 yr old. So I put him in my lap and said, " Sweet Pea this show is talking about Halloween and things we do not participate in. Mommy is changing the channel so you can watch another show that is not talking about Halloween or trick or treating. It is not forever, you will get to watch your show again when they are not talking about such things." And just like that he was fine and enjoyed the alternative to his fav show.(Deut 6) Now this does require some work on my part, flipping around to different stations finding one that was not talking about Halloween.(prov 21:5, eph 4:3) Again God was so good to always provide an alternative. Today we went through the routine again and the first time he started to meltdown and so I sat down with him and reviewed what we talked bout the day before and that was good enough for him, just fine no meltdowns. I realized something along with many things one of the things he is starting to learn is self discipline. If he sees the content come on he is learning not to watch it....find another alternative...master it. It is hard to be a diligent parent in this area. Just walking through the community both children will see Halloween decor and say "what is that?" or in Cupcake words, "Dat?" My first response a few weeks back was one word and I left it at that, "Yucky" Now when they see this gross decor ( And I do emphasize the word gross...elaborate depictions of horror movies in peoples front yard..out of control decor) So now as we pass by the kids say, "that's yucky mommy." My goal is not that the kids would say this every time, but that they would give the decor no attention. And so the teachable moments continue. After they comment on the decor I remind them to give them no attention.
So the real adventure now is what do we do in place of Halloween? We want to start traditions now so by the time they get older they will not feel cheated...and I know they will not because this has been a God journey. Here is what we have decided, our work in progress. Our fall fest is The big replacement. Each kid gets a new fall outfit (yea they are kids I am sure they will be real excited about a new sweater and pants) and or if they want to dress up for fall fest in costume that is just fine with us. With all the activities of the fest it would be hard to ride the rides in costume so that is the only reason I didn't get a fall fest costume for them this year. In addition to the fact that I am such a "practical" person, I thought well this they can where all season...this they will only where for a few hours.
So then what do we do Halloween night? The night all their friends will be out trick or treating. A few ideas we are kicking around and hope to have perfected for next year. A massive Thanksgiving type diner or a special pizza, hot dog, nacho sncaky type night and lots of family fun. Either way this year we have told the kids we are having a party. The nice thing to a 3 yr old "party" means a cake or something with sprinkles on it...:)
( 1 John 4:1-6), eph 5:11) Do your own research and ask the Lord what He would like you to do.
Put on your armor ( Ephesians 6:13-18)
girded your loins with truth
breastplate of righteousness
feet of peace
shield of faith
helmet of salvation
sword of Spirit ( the Word Rhema of God)
vs 18 Prayer in the Spirit
New American Standard Bible
