Halloween for us

Several people asked me if Simeon was dressing up and if we were trick or treating. The answer was no and for several reasons. First off we're not really into Halloween. I definitely enjoy dressing my boy up, but Halloween has pagan origins that I'm not into. The Orthodox Church celebrates Saturday of the Souls days several times during the year, none of which are October 31st. We have some really cool traditions that I will enjoy sharing with Simeon and talking about as he gets older. One is the tradition of Koliva, a dish that is blessed during the service in commemoration of the dead and partaken of by the members after the service.

That being said if people want to partake in harmless Halloween festivities I really don't mind it, I'm not judging anyone. I grew up participating in Halloween and it was fun and harmless. Daniel on the other hand grew up living in the same neighborhood as many of the other members of what would become St. Peter's Orthodox Church. There families were searching for ways to raise their families as faithfully as possible and elected to have them dress up as Saints some years and have little parties for them. Daniel did tell me that some of his friends did trick or treat. And if Simeon does want to trick or treat when he is older and some of his friends are into it, he won't be dressing as anything evil or demonic, not on our watch. I think this is a great book about why dabbling in the occult can be dangerous, strong for some maybe but truthful. I wouldn't recommend this book for a very young child.

Ok enough about my beliefs! I know y'all are here to see pics of my cute boy. We did have a fall festival at church our teens put on. Daniel and I are the teen leaders and the other parents and teens really pitched in to make this a fun event for the kids at our church. Simeon wore a very fallish Wrangler shirt that I got at a consignment sale, so cute! He always has fun with other kids at church and this was no exception, and I think the parents had just as much fun.




So Halloween is here and gone, and we are a week away from Nativity Lent or Advent as the West calls it. I can say I can't wait. I am definitely in need of a renewed effort to concentrate on prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. If anyone has any suggestions of how to involve a small, busy child with almost zero attention span into our Nativity Lent I'd love to hear them. We will go to church services of course, but as far as at home? I have a neat calendar someone gave me that you fold the flaps to expose a different saint everyday (no there's no candy in it:), and Simeon would enjoy it. I hope I didn't put it up in the attic with the other Christmas stuff.