Halloween

So, we celebrate Halloween.

But it's not in the super freaky way that the majority of this state does it.

When Troy and I candidated at our church three years ago it was the beginning of October. The Utah Halloween craze was just starting to gear up and Troy and I had never seen in anything like it before. Southern California, Oregon, Minnesota and Texas (all place that The Husband has lived) do not do Halloween like this.

Still.

We didn't have a clue what we were getting ourselves into.

A few weeks ago I nearly crashed my car as I drove past a house. The door was made to look as though it was covered in blood. "Keep Out" it warned in dripping letters and went on with more wording that even my double take couldn't decipher. The disgusting and irreverent similarity to Passover wasn't lost on me.

Our kids dress up. They go trick-or-treating. For me, it's like they get to pretend to be in a play where all the world is their stage and the audience throws candy at them. In my opinion, that would be, maybe, the best kind of play albeit a little distracting. This is The Rock Star's 5th Halloween and he's never really been subjected to anything horrible. We've focused more on the bounty of harvest and the joys of wearing a costume--a clean costume--and acquiring candy.

Today I stopped by a costume shop, in search of a belly that could serve as the baby Jesus in our Christmas play. With kids in tow I entered. I had in mind to get in and get out since, upon stepping foot inside I saw witches and giant lab rats in cages and these are not things I particularly want my children experiencing. The hired help was rather vague on where I would find the desired item so I went searching. In the middle of the shop we stumbled upon the sickest sight. All over was a congregation of what can only be described as demon babies. Life sized tiny humans with red eyes and blood dripping from their mouths. One of them was angrily gnawing on an adult sized hand. One was proudly displaying blood soaked fangs. Another had two heads, a blue eyed sweet looking head and an evil demonic head.

The Little Buddy freaked out and started burying his head in my shoulder and clinging to me like a baby ape. The Rock Star started whimpering and then threw his arms around my leg and shoved his head into the side of my jeans. "Pick me up!" He begged. "Those babies are really scary. I don't like them. Why is that one eating a hand? And...why does that one have two heads?"

"Because this place is disgusting," I answered. "Don't look at them. Come on." He turned his head away from the terrifying babies and into the face of an evil clown. "AHHH!" He screamed and then buried his head again.

I've been in my fair share of Halloween costume shops. It's the best time to get costumes for Christmas plays. I've never seen anything like this. I'm an adult and it turned my stomach inside out. Just thinking about the fact that I subjected my tiny little humans to such twisted Halloween garbage makes me sick.

So if you want to know if we do the Halloween thing, well, yeah. We dress up. We eat candy. We go to a Harvest Party. We do not cover our yard with grave stones, our door with blood and our house with demonic babies. We celebrate a time of harvest. We do not share in the disgusting.