rancher24
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posted on October 27, 2001 07:24:45 PM new
I love halloween!...As a kid I enjoyed it, but when I became a mom (many moons ago!) I really got into it, probably because my oldest loved pretend dress up all year long and halloween was his crowning glory. I (not a sewer) painstakingly made him the best costumes (Batman, Superman, Ninja Turtle, Power Ranger, etc) that he was thrilled to become. Back then I started dressing up for school parties, but somehow it stuck. I've got a few standard, but homemade costumes: witch, clown, cowboy, which I rotate from year to year. This year I just didn't feel the mood was right. The outside of my house, which is typically transformed into a haunted (but kid friendly) graveyard complete with tombstones, skeletons, spiders, pumpkins, ghosts and gouls of every kind is decorated this year with only several spotlight lit American flags. But as a volunteer for the school "pumpkin festival" today, I made a psuedo Lady Liberty costume. Decked out in flowing red/white/blue actually felt good. I have decided to wear the costume as I take the kids trick or treating this Wednesday and perhaps recapture some of the fun that is missing this year.
Do you typically dress up for Halloween? Will you be dressing up this year? Will your costume be different considering the recent events?
~ Rancher
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gravid
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posted on October 27, 2001 07:29:02 PM new
If I really wanted to scare and gross out everyone I would just go naked. 
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Zilvy
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posted on October 27, 2001 07:30:17 PM new
I have to admit I do not *Dress Up* for Hallowe'en but I do get dressed...I can't stand handing out candy and having some smart alec kid pointing and snickering....
sorry I had to do that! I guess you'd call me a derailer of threads, but only if you DON'T want candy when you come trick or treating! 
ARRRRGGHHHH Gravid how tacky...you said the same thing...we were typing at the same time and you beat me in posting!! Dayum!!
[ edited by Zilvy on Oct 27, 2001 07:32 PM ]
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gravid
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posted on October 27, 2001 07:37:23 PM new
Is that what the kid was talking about? He told the other kids don't bother with this house all he has are minifranks and jelly beans.
Will I finally get moderated?
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jt-2007
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posted on October 27, 2001 07:50:36 PM new
After quite a few years of battling relatives , hurt feelings, many tears, finally everyone here agrees that we do not do Halloween.
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rachelcrisscross
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posted on October 27, 2001 07:55:34 PM new
Sometimes I still do...
A couple of years ago some kids who came to my door told me that the guy next store was giving away huge handfulls of chocolate so I quickly found a costume and hurried over there...
Lots of parties here tonight...
I was walking the dog about an hour ago and a big green garbage bag near some bushes slowly crept it's way towards me...
There were a number of arms (more than two) hanging out of it...
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gravid
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posted on October 27, 2001 08:04:14 PM new
Just then Stephen King stepped from behind the hedge. He said.........
[ edited by gravid on Oct 27, 2001 08:04 PM ]
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rachelcrisscross
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posted on October 27, 2001 08:24:50 PM new
Boo ba hissss?
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breinhold
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posted on October 27, 2001 08:58:16 PM new
i usually dress as a state trooper! (i will always remember that rancher).
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ashlandtrader
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posted on October 27, 2001 09:35:25 PM new
I have been searching all over for the humor tonight and I finally found it here. Thanks, it was needed!
Anyway, yes we do get into halloween. We live in a small college town and Halloween and the 4th of July are HUGE events. I am looking forward to putting on a giant Winnie the Pooh head (can't hardly see out of it and oh boy is it HOT), but my monk of a husband (now THAT is funny) promised to help lead me around. And the youngest will be a dog (dogs and balls are HUGE things in her life right now). My seven year old is getting around the no makeup rule for a night and becoming a teenager. Scary! Britney Spears eat your heart out.
The seven year old was very glad when her sister was born because she realized that it meant double candy on halloween for the first few years. So she is trying to teach the youngest how to say "trick or treat". It comes out something like "doo-doo". She's cute enough that she can get away with it. :0)
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breinhold
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posted on October 27, 2001 09:48:31 PM new
I love to scare trick or treaters. I put on old bibs a real cheap crummy looking mask and gloves and then stuff straw in the neck sleeves and legs. I look just like a stuffed fake dummy. then I sit on a chair posed very stiffly and unnatural with a basket of candy that has a sign that reads "not home take one" with one arm dangling,I look really fake. when a kid reaches for candy I don't make even the slightest sound, I don't scream or say boo, I just stand up really fast! they freak out!! one kid poked me with a stick for about 30 seconds as I sat there and said to his brother "that aint real" then he reached in and about had a heart attack when I stood up. I am laughing now just remembering it. i have done worse in the past.
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Zilvy
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posted on October 27, 2001 09:53:33 PM new
Breinhold, i'll bet the little kid had to go home to change his underwear!! hee hee I love it.
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gravid
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posted on October 27, 2001 09:53:37 PM new
A "funniest home video" classic!!!
If only you could make them reach in a sack and have a hand grab them around the wrist when they take a piece!!!
[ edited by gravid on Oct 27, 2001 10:06 PM ]
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breinhold
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posted on October 27, 2001 09:57:26 PM new
zilvy i was laughing so hard i did.
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breinhold
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posted on October 27, 2001 10:14:35 PM new
once I found an old wedding dress and wore it with a skeleton mask. I would run from the back yard with a real high pitched insane laugh. they would hear me coming before they could see me and when they did, oh man! to be honest I kinda scared myself that year. I hated that outfit. it was hard to look in the mirror. very creepy
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firecracker
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posted on October 27, 2001 11:02:29 PM new
Oh yes! Every year at work they have a group of kids from a School for Homeless Kids come through the building trick or treating. Of course the employees enjoy this almost more then the kids.
The best costume I have had was last year when I dressed up as a Cereal Killer hand little cereal boxes all over me with plastic knives stiking out of them.
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chococake
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posted on October 28, 2001 01:48:53 AM new
When I worked at the cosmetology school we all dressed up. My best costume was a cat made from human hair. The students used these swatches to practice with hair color. They are from two to 10 inches in length, and from blonde to black. I started short on top to the long ones on the bottom and tail. The colors I used were mostly different shades of brown and auburn with some dark blonde. It was really beautiful. Of course I won first prize at every party. I lent it to a few friends too. I finally sold it at the flea market for $75.
Today I went to my grandsons preschool for their party. He was Thomas the Train. It was so much fun to see all those little kids dressed up.
Terri - why doesn't your family have Halloween? It's such a fun, and family type thing. Kids love to dress up, and parents have so much fun dressing them. I would hate to miss a party like today. There were games, and a puppet show. Lots of fun and pictures. Tons of hot dogs and pizza. It's a parent co-op so they also made money to put back into the school.
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jt-2007
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posted on October 28, 2001 01:33:55 AM new
We may do a church "FallFest" Choco. Actually it gripes me in a BIG way too and last year we didn't go. It's like they do the similar thing but just change the name from "Halloween" to "FallFest" to pretend it isn't Halloween. I think it's a lame attempt to hide what it is especially when there are jack-o-lanterns everywhere. More and more Christian Schools and churches are changing the date of FallFest by several weeks to avoid the Halloween theme but ours hasn't. They say it gives and "alternative"...but I am NOT fooled, it's because there are too many people in the church who want to do it and pretend it "isn't".
My inlaws love Halloween. They used to invite us over to their neighboorhood to trick or treat when my older daughter was little. Hubby always wanted to go so we did withut much thought. Then one year I started reading about the origins and I began to feel convicted that it was wrong...but I continued to do it with much guilt to keep peace.
As we would walk on our way every year, we would pass a house that was all dark but for a lighted cross in the yard. My inlaws would say how shameful that was and quickly walk by embarassed. But my heart would cry out, "Oh I am so wrong" and I would want to have that kind of courage to show my love for Christ. But I was really really weak then in sharing my faith at all.
So, then one year I got up the courage (just barely) and my daughter and I made Bible verses rolled up and when anyone gave us candy we would give them a little rolled up verse as a thank you. My mother in law nearly died. She said how we humiliated her in her own neighborhood. So hubby (who was not a Christian then either) got sort of irritated about it too. Every year after that I cried for 2 or 3 days before Halloween, felt sick, begged not to go through this ordeal and not to teach my daughter these pagan traditions. The inlaws would shower us (children) with decorations despite my pleas to not give them to us. Finally, I had enough and I threw everything (new stuff too) in the trash. Hubby finally gave in after he became a Christian though I don't think he felt that stongly about it.
Now my older daughter understands it's history and doesn't like it either. My little one doesn't yet so it's a battle. Everywhere (stores) there are decorations. I wish it wasn't so overdone in public places.
It may not be wrong for someone else, but it is wrong for me. If I feel convicted that strongly, that means that FOR ME, it is wrong. I believe that this conviction comes from God and thefore requires my obedience. There are lots of people who don't do it for that reason, but more who do without thought or conviction.
We also don't do Santa. We do give Christmas gifts.
I realize that some of you may not understand this at all. Sorry.
~clarification
[ edited by jt on Oct 28, 2001 01:45 AM ]
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jt-2007
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posted on October 28, 2001 01:56:22 AM new
But what it really boils down to is that one day I woke up and realized that if God was just an empty Sunday morning thing, I was living a lie.
[ edited by jt on Oct 28, 2001 02:03 AM ]
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sadie999
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posted on October 28, 2001 02:01:21 AM new
jt, I do kind of understand from the back end.
I think it's a bit much because I don't think Halloween (no matter what its beginnings) is celebrating anything anymore but having a good time, dressing up, and partying.
I also use December 25th as a good excuse to say hi to friends with whom I've lost touch, to give gifts, bake cookies for the postal folks and firefighters, etc., even though I don't celebrate xmas as a religious holiday.
I think religious folks and atheists can go too far. Should I ramble around here, doors and curtains shut on the 12/25? Nah, I'd miss all the goodwill and fun. I think giving up Halloween is the same thing. The kids just look too darned cute.
Do I dress up? (To finally answer the original question.) Yep, the whip and the patent leather boots are... oh wait... Do I dress up for halloween? Sometimes.
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jt-2007
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posted on October 28, 2001 02:11:56 AM new
I don't think Halloween (no matter what its beginnings) is celebrating anything anymore but having a good time
Then it's not wrong for you.
I think it was Gary Smalley who is a Christian teacher and leader who said that for him drinking a glass of wine wasn't wrong. He felt no conviction about it, had no problem with it. Then one day he was on a plane and he was having a glass of wine when a guy told him that he was struggling with alcoholism. Gary wanted to tell him about Christ and there he sat having a glass of wine and couldn't without looking like a fool. He said that it was THAT MOMENT that drinking suddenly BECAME a sin for him.
It was that moment when my inlaws ridiculed Christians in front of the yard with the cross that Halloween became a sin to me that I had to deal with on a real level.
If it isn't wrong for you, don't worry about it. It's just wrong for me.
~sp as usual
[ edited by jt on Oct 28, 2001 02:21 AM ]
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ashlandtrader
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posted on October 28, 2001 08:39:03 AM new
jt,
I admire your ability to "live and let live" (so to speak-- It is early and I can't figure out how else to say that). Thank you for posting!
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gravid
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posted on October 28, 2001 09:21:53 AM new
jt - Have to commend you for following your conscience when it could not have been easy.
I don't do exactly like you but that is not the point. - You have the power of your convictions. That is rare.
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chococake
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posted on October 28, 2001 09:23:04 AM new
terri - thank you for answering so honestly. I was really hopeing it had nothing to do with religion, but, that maybe you were too far out of town (or something).
So, even though you're against the celebration what did you think of my costume (trying to get back on topic here? Pretty good idea for a cat costume, huh?
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rancher24
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posted on October 28, 2001 09:29:10 AM new
breinhold I usually dress as a state trooper!...well, I just might have to do some trick or treatin' at your place!
Anyone have pics?....Show us your favorite costumes!
~ Rancher
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Pocono
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posted on October 28, 2001 09:53:12 AM new
Now Terri, you just KNOW that you would look 2 cute dressed up as a wittle bunny wabbit...
Ring my bell, and I'll give you a treat.
No tricks here.
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hepburn
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posted on October 28, 2001 10:02:59 AM new
Im lazy, so this year at work I think I will just wear every long hippie skirt I have in my closet, throw on all the jewelry I have in my jewelry box, wrap a few sarongs around my shoulders and just go as a gypsy
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bunnicula
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posted on October 28, 2001 10:03:01 AM new
I dress up for Halloween at work, but usually take off all the make-up (I have a tendency to get *real* elaborate) when I get home. After 8 hours, your face is screaming at you to remove it!
Besides, if I wore a costume at home to greet trick-or-treaters, it would probably detract from Chandra's very real enjoyment of the holiday.
Chandra is my 175 pound harlequin Great Dane (white with black & gray splotches). She is firmly convinced that Halloween is the one day of the year that children come from far & wide to my house to pet HER! She pokes her head around me as I hand out candy and delights in having the kids rub her ears & pat her head. Last year one little boy about 4 or 5 years old ran back down my driveway yelling "Mom, Mom! She has a cow in there!!!!" 
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Valleygirl
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posted on October 28, 2001 10:03:19 AM new
jt: Thank you for sharing that. I've been wrestling with some of the same feelings. I won't do the witches and goblins thing. And my church has a carnival and children dress up in their favorite biblical character.
Last night we went to a party (husband - work related) I went dressed as a nun, and he was a monk. The host dressed as Moses and his wife was Miriam.
Not my name on ebay.
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jt-2007
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posted on October 28, 2001 10:08:58 AM new
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