Halloween

I know, some folks don't celebrate Halloween for religious reasons. I know that it is traditionally a pagan holiday involving satanic or pre satanic rituals, but it has become a cultural thing in modern day times. I personally LOVE the Halloween thing. Dressing up, the kids comming to the door, I don't mean the teeny boppers, but the little ones, dressed as their favorite cnaracters, their favorite baseball player, or the teeny weenies dressed like little pumpkins or chicks. I love the decorating, scarecrows, pumpkins haybales and the like. Fall, or by the correct name, Autumn is my favorite time of year, so Halloween naturally falls into that category. My children have always dressed for Halloween, some years not as creatively as Momma would have liked, but the boys are now at an age where they are the costume of choice for teenies: themselves with traditional shaving cream and colored hair spray in their heads. For them, it isn't about the candy, but the freedom to roam the neighborhood bieng loud and silly with their friends. I think that girls traditionally dress up farther into their teens than boys. Boys are more embarrassed to do so as they get older, but hopefully as they age, that embarrasment goes away. I don't think that it is great that kids are destructive on Halloween, I don't believe that it is cool to be mean to little kids, to be so frightening that the kids are traumatized, but a little YUCK or AWWWGH, is ok. I have these giant plastic bugs that I put out on the porch and these little rubber balck and white mice that look rather lifelike in the right light. I don't carve pumpkins, but I do decorate them with the bugs and mice, they look as if they are being crawled all around. SPooky is ok. I will be in as it gets dark. My little one will only do my development and some of the one behind us, that is enough for a 5 year old. The boys will be given a time to be home, with enough time to finish the HW and to shower, and to wind down before bed. They may not think it is fair, but truly it will be, I promise. They usually go out with a couple of their friends and always travel in a group, so it is relatively safe. Happy Halloween to all! Be safe in whatever you and the kiddies do today or tonite! Enjoy the fun in the trick or treats!