All my memories of Halloween are good ones.
My mother loved making our costumes . . . and did a much better job than the abysmal stuff available in the seventies in the store. Rule of thumb for costumes: if your character’s name is printed on the costume it is a bad costume. Nobody looking like Dracula has to print “Dracula” on their body . . . the Prince of the Night does not wear a name tag. (”Hello. I am the Count and I am here to suck your blood.”)
Beyond the normal giving your apple a bob or two . . . and we have a dead Mac lap top that could not be harmed by exposure to water. . . what should you do?
(My mother loved off beat games. . . she once got some baby bottles and gave the teenagers at my Halloween party a prize for the one who could empty it first. This was more fun . . . and harder than one might think. It also does not get carefully constructed costumes wet like bobbing for apples.)
I am assuming houses with younger children are either waiting for the Great Pumpkin or getting good loot in the neighborhood . . .
(If you are near Biola go to the school, then look for Candyland. It will be worth your time.)
First, read Descent into Hell. It is deep and scary . . . a rare enough combination and it has the strange blend of mysticism and fairly orthodox Christianity that only Charles Williams can produce.
Second, watch one of the following:
a. the Charlie Brown Halloween special. . . which tells you why hope is not enough . . . the Great Pumpkin will not come to save us just because we wish he would.
b. Frankenstein. . . the original black and white is a lesson in cultural change and is glorious campy fun.
c. the Village . . . still my favorite sort-of-scary, but wonderfully made film.
Third, recall for your family the righteous dead of your own line. It is a great night for memories. If you don’t have a godly heritage, do what Christians have always done and borrow the heroes of the Faith.
Fourth, do give out candy and not tracts.
I like a good sermon . . . but I don’t like it instead of a sweetie. If a kid thinks he is getting candy and you give him a Chick tract, then you are not a good neighbor. Christians, even ones who do not celebrate the day, should give out the best treats as a sign of social solidarity. You may not be eating candy, but your neighbor is. Whatever harm exists in the holiday (and it is not much if any), eating sweeties is not part of it.
Fifth, it is always fun to scare a friend or family member. My mother was the master of dropping a rubber spider in my path as I walked up stairs. A good fright cleans up the nervous system . . . but do avoid using actual chain saws, nuclear weapons, or dangerous chemicals in your prank. One wants to have a bit of a laugh at the end of the prank and this is hard to do if the subject actually suffers harm as a result of the joke.
“As he lowered the anti-tank rocket launcher and looked at his friends smoking new car, literally, John chuckled at what Paul would say.
“Har, har,” said prankish John only to notice that his friend would never laugh again. John had failed to notice Paul had been in the car. John had once again spoiled the party for himself and others. John was morose and the evening pretty much over.”
Do not let this story happen to you . . . leave that rocket launcher for Fourth of July fun . . . safely at home tonight.