My favorite channel is the Food Network. I love getting ideas on making yummy food for my family and friends. The only time that I don't really appreciate it is during Halloween. It is chock full of ideas on how to make goulish-looking food or tons of sweets. It pretty much turns my stomach regardless of my pregnancy. Turning perfectly good breadsticks into fingers with long nails, spaghetti into worms, food with eyeballs, etc., totally grosses me out. It might be fun for boys and maybe for some girls, but it will not be something I can bring myself to do. When I was a kid, my mom made green eggs and ham for fun. All she did was put green food coloring in the scrambled eggs, but I couldn't touch them. I couldn't even look at them. Normally, I don't have a weak stomach. I can change my son's dirty diaper without one gag. Food is different for me. It should be something beautiful to look at, delightful to smell, and mouth-watering. Otherwise, it goes in the trash. Also, it's always candy this and candy that. Please. They get enough candy trick-or-treating. It's bad enough that it sits in my kitchen calling my name every now and again.
There's another thing about Halloween that I don't appreciate. It's the decorations. Pictures of ghosts, skeletons, bats, and haunted houses just don't do it for me. I think they are ugly to put it plainly. I love autumn decorations. I love the colorful leaves, scarecrows, straw, and candles in fall scents. I'm sure my boys would love fake webs and spiders in the house, but plainly I've had enough of that already.
Last year, we decided to start letting our kids go trick-or-treating. We didn't regret it. The boys had so much fun. They loved getting the candy, but the best part was dressing up in a costume. This year, I started early looking for costumes. We looked in every store where we live. A new store popped up in the area which was especially for Halloween costumes. I had never been in that store in my life and didn't know that I would come to regret stepping foot in it. I had my boys with me and had no idea that my boys were about to be scared to death. They should have had a sign that said, "Enter at your own risk. May be too scary for little ones." As we entered the store, there was a fake graveyard with all sorts of gory, frightening scenes. The boys stood there with there mouths open taking it all in. I hurriedly told them to come along and look for costumes. As we came away, I heard, "Mom! There was a man without a head! His head was in his hands!" "Mom! There were bugs crawling all over this guy's body! They were eating him!" As we moved along the aisles, there were moans and screams coming from various speakers throughout the store. I wasn't in there long when I realized that the prices and selections were definitely a waste of my time. Right before I decided to leave, I realized that the little hand I held was shaking. I looked down at Aidan. The poor boy was so scared his whole body was shaking in fear. I immediately hustled them all out the door berating myself for my ultimate stupidity. As I put them in their car seats, Aidan kept saying over and over, "I scared, Mama." He didn't want to go into any store after that. I know there will be times that I make mistakes as a mother and that was a whopper. I called myself a "dead beat mom" and smacked my forehead for a while after that.
Needless to say, Halloween is not my favorite holiday.
There's another thing about Halloween that I don't appreciate. It's the decorations. Pictures of ghosts, skeletons, bats, and haunted houses just don't do it for me. I think they are ugly to put it plainly. I love autumn decorations. I love the colorful leaves, scarecrows, straw, and candles in fall scents. I'm sure my boys would love fake webs and spiders in the house, but plainly I've had enough of that already.
Last year, we decided to start letting our kids go trick-or-treating. We didn't regret it. The boys had so much fun. They loved getting the candy, but the best part was dressing up in a costume. This year, I started early looking for costumes. We looked in every store where we live. A new store popped up in the area which was especially for Halloween costumes. I had never been in that store in my life and didn't know that I would come to regret stepping foot in it. I had my boys with me and had no idea that my boys were about to be scared to death. They should have had a sign that said, "Enter at your own risk. May be too scary for little ones." As we entered the store, there was a fake graveyard with all sorts of gory, frightening scenes. The boys stood there with there mouths open taking it all in. I hurriedly told them to come along and look for costumes. As we came away, I heard, "Mom! There was a man without a head! His head was in his hands!" "Mom! There were bugs crawling all over this guy's body! They were eating him!" As we moved along the aisles, there were moans and screams coming from various speakers throughout the store. I wasn't in there long when I realized that the prices and selections were definitely a waste of my time. Right before I decided to leave, I realized that the little hand I held was shaking. I looked down at Aidan. The poor boy was so scared his whole body was shaking in fear. I immediately hustled them all out the door berating myself for my ultimate stupidity. As I put them in their car seats, Aidan kept saying over and over, "I scared, Mama." He didn't want to go into any store after that. I know there will be times that I make mistakes as a mother and that was a whopper. I called myself a "dead beat mom" and smacked my forehead for a while after that.
Needless to say, Halloween is not my favorite holiday.
Comments
Love,
Your Hubby
Amen, Andy. I guess you could say that the beautiful packaging of Christmas, all the gold and glitter, can be a great danger to the undiscerning. Materialism is a much greater danger to the believer than a little fright on Halloween.
As a mommy, it's good to be reminded not to treat my little boy like a little girl. Thanks, Andy.