Halloween Fun with the Twins

I am not really a huge Halloween fan.   Don't get me wrong, I love the pumpkin patches, scarecrows, apple picking and fall leaves that connote all things autumn. It's the skeletons, gruesome masks and bloody, disturbing stuff that always strikes me as evil, and completely over the top for a "kid" holiday.  In fact, for me, if my kids weren't so into dress up, I would skip Halloween altogether.  Call me a curmudgeon, that's just the honest truth.  

I am such a Halloween scrooge.  Believe it or not, I actually lodged a formal complaint at Party City last week for their nightmarish display of evil, bloody monsters at the front of the store.  My kids walked in and upon seeing the guy with the blood coming out of his neck, Freddy Kruger whispering, "I'll see you in your dreams," and a shrouded "death" character, complete with a sickle, they had a mini-freak out.  Sure, my kids are pretty sheltered, but they are also very young and I believe, super vulnerable to frightening images.  I don't feel like Freddie Kruger having any part of their dreams.  

When I was a kid, my sister and I always dressed up for Halloween.  My parents never made a big deal about it, and so we never thought too hard about what Halloween was all about or why we participated in the holiday.  Well, just last night as we were tucking the girls into bed, Emma asked me why we celebrate Halloween.  I was stumped.  So I did what I always do when that happens.  I told her that was a question for her dad.  Danny gave a pretty great answer, I thought.  We may dress  up for Halloween, and we may even trick-or-treat a little in our neighborhood, but basically Halloween should be seen as a time to reach out to others with the love Jesus Christ.  I mean, when else do you have a bunch of strangers showing up at your door all night long?  It's a perfect mini-mission project for the kids!  It was at that moment that I remembered the special Halloween tracts I had bought at our Christian bookstore last week.  I showed them to the girls and we made a plan of how we could distribute them along with candy the night of Halloween.  We'll see how it goes.  This is our first year attempting such a plan.  

So after this serious talk with the big girls, I ventured over to the twins' room to ask them about their Halloween costume plans.  Now, given they probably don't remember last year....

....see? They were only two years old!  They don't really know what they are talking about when I ask them what they are going to be.  The conversation, which I videotaped, went from bad to worse...and I have to admit, that I encouraged it.  Funny.

Watch the video to see two three-year-olds take on what they should be for Halloween.