Fun weekend – Halloween

So, Halloween is over, the clocks have been dialed back, and the weather is nice – at least it is here.

According to Kaden, last night was a “great day!”. He said that while dumping his candy in the living room floor to take a better look at his bounty. It was actually funny how that all worked out. So here comes the little story. Sorry, I was impressed with my kids – I even talked to some friends who said theirs did the same thing – so that tells me we’re maybe raising them right. LOL Maybe!

Keagan and Kaden went with their mom and pawpaw to the church and then to Craig’s, Jack’s, and PawPaw’s house, where they got a pretty good bag of candy. I stayed at home that evening to hand out candy to the little critters that showed up at my door. We had a pretty good size bowl of sweets

to hand out, but I was running low not even an hour into the rush. So, I went against my greedy consience and decided to get rid of some of my personal “stash” – carefully picking out the least liked stuff I had. LOL Jace and the kids came home and Jace had a great idea. She grabbed the candy from last year – left over from the kids bounty – and dumped it in the bowl. Then we ran out again. The kids dumped their candy into the bowl and handed it out. So then they had none, and we were out – of course I had an emergency stash – incase times get hard. LOL

Then Jace took them to our neighbors houses. They came back with more than they had the first time they came home. Wow! Anyway, Kade flops down in the floor, dumps out his bag of candy and says “today was a great day Daddy!”. LOL, yeah, I guess it was.

The other thing I was proud of is how economical minded my children are – they decided they would wear the same costumes as last year. Kaden was a pirate, and Keagan was a “be-bop” girl…uhh with pink stripes in her hair. So, they’re nearly as “cheap” as I am. LOL

I also spent a good part of the day helping my father-in-law on my his Harley. It had a left turn signal staying on steady. We found the problem with the harness being rubbed, and shorting out, but could not get to it to fix it. Then we decided we could fix it today. Amazing what a night of sugar and sleep will do for the brain. We ended up putting it on the jack, raising it, removing the rear shocks, dropping the rear tire, and then pulling the

harness out a bit where we could get to it. Taped it all up like good oil field tech’s would do, and put it all back together. Then, as we were just wrapping up, Jack rode up on his Harley. So he and I went for a good test ride together. He was came along as a “pick-up” man, incase I had electrical failure. LOL

So now, we are getting ready to cook and do our Sunday night family movie time. I wanted to put some things up here about Halloween – without going into my own opinion too much. I just think that some people get to extreme with it – on both sides – for and against. I mean come on! Anyway, here is a bit of history on it. Figure it out for yourself. Happy day after Halloween!

Christian attitudes towards Halloween are quite diverse. In the Anglican Church, some dioceses have chosen to emphasize the Christian traditions of All Saints’ Day,[34][35] while some other Protestants celebrate the holiday as Reformation Day, a day to remember the Protestant Reformation.[36][37]

Many Christians ascribe no negative significance to Halloween, treating it as a purely secular holiday devoted to celebrating “imaginary spooks” and handing out candy. Halloween celebrations are common among Roman Catholic parochial schools throughout North America and in Ireland. In fact, the Roman Catholic Church sees Halloween as having a Christian connection.[38] Father Gabriele Amorth, a Vatican-appointed exorcist in Rome, has said, “[I]f English and American children like to dress up as witches and devils on one night of the year that is not a problem. If it is just a game, there is no harm in that.”[39]

Most^[citation needed^] Christians hold the view that the tradition is far from being satanic in origin or practice and that it holds no threat to the spiritual lives of children: being taught about death and mortality, and the ways of the Celtic ancestors actually being a valuable life lesson and a part of many of their parishioners’ heritage.[40] Other Christians feel concerned about Halloween, and reject the holiday because they believe it trivializes (and celebrates) “the occult” and what they perceive as evil.[41] A response among some fundamentalists in recent years has been the use of ‘Hell houses‘ or themed pamphlets (such as those of Jack T. Chick) which attempt to make use of Halloween as an opportunity for evangelism.[42][dead link]

Some consider Halloween to be completely incompatible with the Christian faith[43] because of its origin as a pagan “Festival of the Dead.” In more recent years, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston has organized a “Saint Fest” on the holiday.[42] Many contemporary Protestant churches view Halloween as a fun event for children, holding events in their churches where children and their parents can dress up, play games, and get candy. Jehovah’s Witnesses do not celebrate Halloween because they believe anything that originated from a pagan holiday should not be celebrated by true Christians.[44]

Religions other than Christianity also have varied views on Halloween. Celtic Pagans consider the season a holy time of year.[45] Celtic Reconstructionists, and others who maintain ancestral customs, make offerings to the Gods and the ancestors.[45]