Halloween - YMMV

You know how it is when you're "new" somewhere and you don't want to say anything controversial? I've been here for a few months now and I've not posted a lot of substance because I realize that written words can easily be taken the wrong way. Particularly when it's matters that are dear to us.

I have many blogs that I read daily. And by "daily" I mean the days that I get to sit down and read blogs. ; ) A least a couple of times a week usually.

Some of the blogs are from women close to my own age (40) but many are women that are much younger. I'm not really sure why this is, except that younger people tend to be online more I suppose. I've searched for blogs of older Christian women, but the majority of blogs that I've found are younger women.

I suppose that at my age, I've learned that there is wisdom to be found everywhere you're willing to look. So I really enjoy many of these young women's blogs. There are sometimes in very different seasons of their lives and it brings back some sweet memories.

And many of these young women have some strong ideas on things. Strong ideas are wonderful. And I suppose I was very similar when I was their age. But we all have things to learn. None of us know the right answers to every question. And some questions may not even have "right" and "wrong" answers.

This brings me to Halloween.

I do allow my children to participate in Halloween activities. I always have. Most of the activities are either at our church or the church that we have Girl Scouts. But we also have a little get-together at our house every year where all their friends come and they go around the neighborhood together. It's a great Halloween neighborhood.

We do not dress in anything scary. We are not celebrating anything other than this kid holiday of dress-up, fun and candy.

We walk up to houses that have lights on, doors open, and pumpkins glowing. The elderly neighbors really seem to get joy seeing all the little kids all dressed with faces shining. The adults walk with steaming mugs of cider or cocoa and fellowship. The girls get an evening with their friends.

And let me say here, that I totally respect your right and opinion to NOT celebrate Halloween. Certainly if I (or my husband) felt convicted to not celebrate, we wouldn't.

And I wouldn't need any other reason. Not a single one.

But please understand that we don't go "begging for candy". We don't force people in the neighborhood to participate if they don't want to do so. We don't celebrate anything evil, ever.

So please, let your words (even the written ones) be gentle. You may feel in your heart that something is wrong for you and your family, but that doesn't mean that my family has the same convictions.

And it doesn't mean that either of us is wrong.