by Noella Noelophile™
,,,guess what’s going to be here.
It may be early, but here’s a question for you. What would really make Christmas, 2013, the merriest, for you and the people most important in your life?
Maybe it will be a lot like the fun part of Halloween.
Earlier this year, one of my interview guests made the point that Halloween is like the “less responsible brother” of Christmas. In some ways, it really is.
Think about it. Halloween is all about fun, humor, playfulness and festivity, with no real social obligations attached. With all the parties, decorations (some of which look suspiciously Christmas-y!), costumes and refreshments, most people’s plans don’t include hosting a big family Halloween dinner. Nor do we raise funds for those less fortunate at Halloween–or volunteer at our organization’s Halloween costume drive.
Before we add the “giving” aspect of Christmas–which is one of the things that makes the season beautiful–what do you enjoy most about Halloween?
(And no, I will never believe it is the “devil’s holiday”! As mentioned before, I grew up in the church, where Girl Scout AND Sunday school Halloween parties were yearly occurrences. Even our pastor, after marrying a couple once on Halloween, concluded the wedding ceremony and thought to add to the new Mr. and Mrs., “and oh, yes,–boo!” And not one of us from the congregation, to my knowledge, ever turned out to be particularly diabolical.)
Personally, I love playing some rocking Halloween music as we wait to hear “Trick or Treat!” outside the door. We always enjoy seeing what the neighborhood children have created for their costumes this year, and offering them (and their parents) candy. If their faces light up and they comment we have the “good candy here!”, we know we’ve made the right choice.
All of the above translate, when December gets here, to enjoying being at home with the decorations lit up on a winter evening, seeing the most creative ways local artists come up with decorations for Christmas, and watching friends and family members’ faces as they open something we hope they’ll think is special.
Notice I didn’t say anything about going out to big social gatherings or having the most expensive, high-tech costume for Halloween? Those just aren’t important to us–which tells us that “crowded and top-of-the-line” aren’t necessarily elements we want in our Christmas, either.
How about you? What aspects of celebrating Halloween could carry over into the “fun” part of Christmas for you, and those who mean the most in your world?
And, oh, yes–boo.
No cats were harmed in the creation of this post. In fact, the above photo started out to be one of just the pumpkins–but Snow had other ideas!