Trick or Treat?!

I loved this post at Shaun's blog. I wholeheartedly agree. Our family is looking forward to Wednesday, when the kids will have fun dressing up, visiting our wonderful neighbors, and eating candy. I don't think that doing so means that we're devil worshippers either. If you choose not to observe Halloween, that's okay with me. But you should also rethink Santa and the Easter Bunny...also pagan. It amazes me that some people who tell their children that Halloween is evil have no problem telling their children that a little fat man dressed in red comes down their chimney and gives them presents if they've been "good". Is anyone besides me having a problem justifying the whole Santa thing? When my kids ask me if Santa is real, I plan on giving them the same answer Shaun gave his daughter. Do you realize that kids actually sometimes think that Santa is party of the real Christmas story? Some kids actually get Jesus and Santa mixed up. I hate lying to my kids, even when it's all in fun. I hate it that their friends might get more "stuff" than they will, and the Santa story tells them that this is because they haven't been "good enough this year." What about kids from poor families who can't afford many/any toys? Will those precious kids think that they've done something to disappoint Santa? Won't they wonder why the red guy didn't jump down their chimney with a bagful of toys like the picture books show? That thought breaks my heart. My kids will get way more toys than they need this Christmas, but I'm going to try my best to focus more on Jesus and giving to others than anything else this Christmas season. Pray for me to do that.