Aversion to Halloween

I have been writing about a lot about my love for the season Fall....HOWEVER...there is one part of Fall I could really do without: Halloween.  I know some people love it.  I don't.  I never have and I assume I never will.  I have more of an aversion to it this year than ever before.

I don't really understand the point of Halloween.  We dress our kids up in costumes and let them knock on doors and get free candy.  I'm not sure the life lesson...don't talk to strangers, don't take candy from strangers (except on Halloween- it's okay on that day).  And the decorations....ugh...makeshift cemeteries in front yards with homemade headstones, skeletons, mummies, zombies...what?  I even saw a little mummy figurine at the cemetery which I thought was more than a little ironic; very, very strange.  I have seen a lot more decorations this year than I remember seeing in past years...the grim reaper, bloody arms...I don't get out much, so the fact that I have seen these things is a little strange and bothersome.

The haunted houses, forests, corn mazes....I don't get it.  I don't enjoy being scared.  It doesn't give me any sort of thrill.  It just feels terrible and sick.  The only haunted things I have been to in my life were with a Young Women's group...which is probably not appropriate?  I once watched a scary movie at a Beehive activity and couldn't sleep for weeks.

I recently helped in Ethan's class and had to help some of the kids write poetry about zombies.  They were telling me all kinds of interesting facts about zombies...their eyes hang out of their heads, they hold their arms straight out in front of them when they walk, they can only say "brains....brains...." (because that is what they eat?).   I am pretty naive when a  bunch of 7 year olds are bringing me up to speed on zombies.  Then, they told me they come out of the ground in cemeteries.  OKAY, OKAY....I had to stop them there.  I went on for a little while about how zombies are PRETEND and when we "come out of the ground" we aren't going to look like that and it won't be scary.  ANYWAYS.....we got back to writing the poems...(just as long as everyone was clear on the facts!) Seriously...who came up with the gruesomeness of this supposed holiday.

Somewhere along the way people came up with these strange symbols and idea.  The grim reaper for one...I have experienced death one time and it was the furthest thing from the ideas that the grim reaper conjure up.  Another idea is the idea of cemeteries being dark and scary places.  Some sacred truths have been twisted and made to be something horrible and sick instead of what they really are.  Does this sound familiar to anyone?

Hopefully I haven't offended all of the Halloween loving people out there.  It is fun to watch the kids get dressed up...I could do without the free candy.  They should at least have to do something for it.  And what ever happened to those tiny tootsie rolls that I used to get?  I used to get 7 or 8 pieces of "good" chocolate and a lot of no name, old candy.  Now, my kids get the GOOD stuff with an occasional orange paper wrapped mess of peanut butter and taffy.  On the bright side, we have so much candy that we can decorate our gingerbread houses around Christmas time.  I would still rather just buy the candy for the gingerbread houses.

All in all, I am sooooo happy that Eli was born in November.  It seems like when November 1st comes, Halloween is OVER and Thanksgiving and Christmas have begun.  I don't know of another holiday that gets the boot so fast.  Hooray for that.  I much prefer Eli's birthday being in the season of Thanksgiving and Christmas.  It just makes more sense.  I'm happy Heavenly Father planned it like that.