My parents ensured I stayed far, far away from Halloween. Maybe you had similar parents. If you didn’t, then us non-trick-or-treaters must seem strange to you.
Our family lived in remote areas far away from other houses or kids, so I was somewhat removed from the fuss.
To make up for the lack of costumes and candy, my mom sent me to the store the day after Halloween to buy as much half-price candy as possible with a crisp $10 bill.
I never felt like I missed out.
Now a grown-up, Leif and I purchase a bag of candy for kiddos, and try not to eat it all before the 31st. Most years we fail and end up running to the store for another stash.
Now I live in Utah—where Halloween is epic—the most crazily decorated, wildly celebrated holiday of the year.
This was the first year I had to experience a Utah Halloween to find out what all the hubbub was about.
I went with dear friends and their kids through their neighborhood. I felt like more scientist than celebrant.
I appreciated the costumes ranging from cardboard cutouts to inflatable outfits. I studied the candy the kids received. Whenever a home handed out tootsie pops or dum-dums, all the candy-driven-kids left disappointed. A full-size candy bar was the real winner.
Some people didn’t hand out candy at all. The dentist provided a toothbrush with a coupon code for the next visit. One person gave out Capri-Suns; another handed out Play-doh (my personal favorite).
Then there was this one house. The house.
Large inflatable non-scary ghosts and figures and silly cars filled and illuminated the yard.
On the front porch, an older woman held two enormous baskets filled with boxes of treats.
Boxes of Moon Pies
Boxes of fancy French cookies
Boxes of candy.
You could only pick one item.
But whatever you picked you got the whole box.
What the what?
Turns out the woman who handed out the generous candy didn’t live in the house. She was hired to hand out candy. Everything had been hired out including the décor.
I never knew people hired out others to give out their candy.
I thought that was part of the experience, part of the kindness, part of the joy.
Obviously, these generous people have found a system that works for them and they are heroes in the neighborhood. And I’m so grateful for all of the peanut butter M&Ms.
But I want to encourage you my sweet friends not to miss out as we approach holidays of thankfulness and the arrival of savior.
Hire any physical help you need or can afford–whether It’s cleaning or cooking or hanging Christmas lights, or setting up a tree, decorating, or fill in the blank. (We’re DIYers).
Thanks to others for their friendship.
Thanks to co-workers for the kindness.
Thanks to church staff for their hard work.
Thanks to pastors for their leadership.
Thanks to the Holy Spirit for comforting and guiding.
Thanks to Christ for His love and sacrifice
Thanks to God in whom we live and breathe and find our meaning.
And as we approach Christmas at you don’t miss the runway.
This year Advent begins on December 3rd and ends on December 24. That’s a shorter than usual Advent. Just 21 days to prepare your heart and mind for greatest gift this world has ever seen.
Will you join me in Celebrate Wonder and Joy: 25 Daily Devotions for Advent and Christmas as we dive into the Scriptures and look at the birth of Christ from a fresh perspective that will spark joy in your life? We’ll start together on December 1st, to give us the full 25 days until Christmas.
Let’s be people who are hands on this holiday in loving and serving and living in awe of Jesus.
Much love to you.
What’s the craziest thing you saw this Halloween?
What day does Advent begin? I think the date is missing in the article….thanks.
Advent starts on December 3.
Oops! We’ve fixed that. Advent celebration begins December 3rd.
Thank you so much for this article, Margaret! We are a pastor’s family with 5 kids and we used to go to a church harvest party every year on Halloween and turn out the lights at our house. About 5 years ago, I woke up the day before Halloween having had a dream where God asked me, “You have about 100 children coming into your neighborhood, and you aren’t going to tell them about Me?” So I quickly started looking up tracts that we could hand out with some really good candy and since my youngest children were teenagers now they could help me, and I would let them have some of the candy so they wouldn’t feel like they missed out. I ended up spending the rest of that day and the next putting together a little card that told the children how much Jesus loved them and a little bit about the gospel. I was so excited! I prayed about who would be coming and how I could just love on them…it was a whole different perspective than I had ever experienced before! We ended up having over a hundred children and I got to have some really sweet conversations with parents and with some of the Middle School kids. It was a wonderful night of loving on children in Jesus name and praying that when they came on our property they would feel the love of the Holy Spirit. Since then my husband has found a wonderful tract that we make at our church and multiply and hand out to all our parishioners and they give these out to the children in their neighborhoods with their candy. When else do we have all of these children coming to our homes where we can be the home in the neighborhood that has Christian Harvest banners (not scary decorations) and someone who will listen to them and love on them and give them a message of Jesus’s gift of salvation along with some pretty “sweet” candy?❤️
I love it, praise God, thank you for obeying.
Terrific! What a blessing you are to your neighbors and church. Great idea!
That is such a glorious idea,thank you for your humble agreement with our Lord Jesus. Thanks for sharing your story! !!!
Love this idea! Thanks for sharing in how to be in this world but not of it. Way to go!
Lalalove this! Thank you for sharing, Blanche! Huge hug!
Aww, thank you! Huge hug back to you, Margaret!
If Jesus, when you see Him Face to face, were to ask you why you celebrated Halloween, which clearly has pagan origins and nothing to do with Him, how will you answer Him? Yeah I know this throws a wet blanket on everything… Handing out tracts is a great idea, though. But we are to be separate from the world, not dive in.
Thank you for your input, Christine. Hugs!
I sadly have not received one of my Christmas study books and I ordered it last month. I sent a couple emails but have yet to hear back. Can someone please contact me? I’m super excited to go through this Christmas study with my mom!!
Oh, no! I’ll get my team on it right away!