Friday, October 31, 2008

All Hallow's Eve!

An update from the archives:

Sunday is All Saints Day. I love the feast of All Saints, because it fills me with hope.

On All Saints, we feel the power of inclusion in this great cloud of witnesses and we experience the hope and anticipation of one day joining them in God's presence.

And about All Hallow's Eve?

Well, for the record, we are a family that does Halloween.

It's become quite the Daddy-daughter thing over the years. Atticus and the girls plot out the best candy routes (amidst much giggling.) I emphasize the Catholic roots and connections (we read about "souling" or "soul caking") and we often refer to Halloween as  "All Hallow's Eve" to reinforce what it really is.

We talk about both All Saints Day and All Souls Day as they approach, we discuss why we don't want to do evil-looking costumes, and we plan our evening around Mass.

And then we have the chocolate-related fun.

After Mass, the kids don their costumes.  And yes, I'm wearing my usual costume -- I always go as a homeschooling mom (but no one ever guesses what I am, can you imagine?)  We often trick-or-treat at the local convent -- the sisters love to have visitors, and it's fun to see the elderly sisters, especially, take such joy in children.

Then, we execute The Plan: Candy Galore. Door to door, neighbors we know, family time. We used to go together, when the kids were younger.  The last couple of years, Atticus and I have taken turns taking the kids out. They say, "Thank you! God bless you!" to everyone and the reactions range from delight and surprise to odd looks.  Anne-with-an-e has outgrown trick-or-treating, of course, so she now helps me hand out candy while Atticus leads the Chocolate Brigade.

And, yes, we eat lots of candy. I let them eat it for breakfast the next day and I rarely give any of it away or complain that it causes cavities. We just enjoy it. That's what feast days are for, as noted in this fun article by Jeffrey Tucker.

One year, Ramona observed, "You can never have too much candy."

I replied, "Well, sometimes you can have too much at a time, but ...."

"But," Ramona said solemnly, "you can never own too much candy."

Not on All Saints Day anyway.

It is indeed a day to celebrate.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for sharing! I have been reading a few random Christian points of view that really put Halloween down, and your post is a breath of fresh air. I especially like how you pulled in the Catholic traditions! If we just look a bit, how easy that is to do!

And Ramona is dead on - you can never own too much candy. :>)