But naptime is my friend. I love catching that middle of the day rest! We went to dinner (at Chili's who by the way will be donating all their proceeds next Monday to St. Jude's Children's Hospital) with my parents' who then accompanied us to Wal-Mart so we could all grab a few things. It is so nice going shopping with more adults than children! I even treated myself to some Double Stuff Halloween oreos with lovely orange filling! A great midnight snack ;-P
Speaking of Halloween, what shall we do? We had always planned to put all the focus on All Saints' Day. But last year Mary Clare found out what trick or treating was and has been mentioning Halloween all throughout the year. I've also learned that our neighborhood has some special festivities. So we'll see what happens. What do you all do?
And I'll end with a sweet picture of the girls and my parents from our Wal-Mart outing tonight. Gotta love the Dumbo 50 cent ride at Wal-Mart. It's the little things that make them so happy...
Oh, and our breakfast from yesterday...Mmmm, a German Puff Pancake with whipped topping and strawberries! Can you tell I have a sweet tooth this week? I also swiped some gummy worms at the store tonight. Must be sure I get a bikeride or some kind of exercise tomorrow!
Have a great weekend, everyone!
8 comments:
mmmmmmmMMMmm..... gummy worms. They are so totally my downfall.
You're making me hungry for sweets and I'm supposed to be trying to lose my pregnancy weight right now. I sooo want to indulge in a few oreos!
You know, Blair, once upon a time I was going to put the focus on All Saints Day and "ignore" Halloween. We did an alternative celebration one year and dressed as saints, but they knew trick or treating existed. I never trick or treated (safety issue) but we always had fun on Halloween and my husband and I did not grow up warped or anything. A couple of years ago we let them dress up and go trick or treating. They have so much fun. Nicole has been talking about it recently and what does she want? - candy! The past couple of years they have dressed as something that could relate to a saint, but you quickly run out of fun things to dress up as. Now my biggest dilemma is how to get out of making 2 costumes - one for Halloween and one for our homeschool group All Saints party. Hmmm.
In a nutshell:
On Halloween itself we may do one craft and then we spend some time stuff ziploc bags of candy to hand out. We have stickers to put on the bag that we make and they have a message about Jesus. We trick or treat. We eat candy. The End.
On All Saints Day, I try to make it even more full of activity. Mass, of course. Lots of stories. Maybe a special video. We do a craft. We make a special meal and dessert and we have saved our pumpkin carving for that evening.
I know everyone has to make their own decisions. We felt like it would not be permanently damaging to limit them to fun dress up and candy collecting. We steer away from the scary and "evil."
Hope this helps
We do Halloween. But I will not let them dress up as anything scary. Also, I refuse to pay for costumes. So they have to wear something from their play clothes at home. If its about dressing up then dress up. But I'm not spending money or making anything. Afterall, they get candy no matter how good the costume looks. And we really have LOTS of costumes already.
Now, as for All Saint's Day, I start planning a month to 2 months in advance. I will sew their costumes. I go all out. So the focus is on All Saint's Day. Halloween is just a day to get candy.
I'm sure you'll being going to the BOL All Saint's Day party and mass so right there you've shown the emphasis.
Also, the neighborhood has a safe street so trick or treating was a quick 30-45 minute affair. Then we came home and ate candy. And then went to bed excited about the next day to come.
I really thought I would be a purist but as they get older, I give in. I don't want them to grow up feeling they missed something. So I just act like its no big deal. But I also don't decorate my house with anything Halloween. The only exception is carving a pumpkin. Craig does carve pumpkins with them. One year I convinced him to carve out the Immaculate Heart of Mary. But his skills have improved and he can do pretty scary pumpkins. I have no say so in it. Its tradition so I just shut my mouth and roast the pumpkin seeds! LOL!
That's what we do. Sorry for the loooong comment!!
I need a recipe for German puff pancakes! I have had a raging sweet tooth for the last two months and I could get used to these pancakes a few times a day!!!! ;)
Thanks for the Halloween insights, ladies! And Julia, if you click on the words "German Puff Pancake" in my post, it will link to a recipe. I actually use the one from the red & white checked Better Homes Cookbook.
I've enjoyed reading other people's opinions on Halloween/All Saints days. Thanks for bringing up an interesting topic!
Hallowed Eve - we do the same thing. We began by *doing* Halloween, then JUST All Saints Day, but now we do both. Our hs group usually puts on an All Saints party. and the kids'll dress up for Halloween too, but they're not allowed to do scary.
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