Haunted Halloween?

I remember several of my costumes as a kid for Halloween. My mom was amazing at coming up with some really creative solutions. We always had great costumes made of pretty much everyday things. I was a scarecrow, a cowboy, an astronaut. The knowledge that creativity can get you quite far has always stayed with me and served well for youth activities and more. 

I also remember the year that we all had to dump our candy out together on the table at home after trick-or-treating because some wacko was putting razor blades in candied apples. That was pretty much the end of homemade candy. It was the beginning, for me, of realizing how nasty the world could be. 

When I gave my life to Christ, my view on a lot of things changed. One of them was Halloween. I like dressing up in costumes, but it seems all of the holidays that do that are a bit deranged. Halloween in the US and Carnaval here in Belgium are examples. But 1989 changed my whole outlook on Halloween. That was the year we received a very special gift. 

Shirley had struggled all day and was tired. In the end, forceps had to be used, but our son, Stephan, was safely welcomed into the world. I remember standing in a room in the maternity section with windows on two sides so that family could see the newborns. My attention, however, was fully on this wonderful new life that God had given us. Even the surprise of seeing all sorts of masked individuals tapping on the glass (another father was with me in the room and his family was greeting him) could not throw me off. But it did remind me that this was still Halloween. 

Not long after that we moved to Belgium, where there was no Halloween. For years we did not even have to think of any of it (although we of course did have to deal with Carnaval - in February or March). It was only later when the boys were older that they realized they might be able to get something from neighbors by going trick-or-treating. They didn’t dress up, just went door to door. People didn’t know what to do, so they gave them money (a practice done here on January 6 at the celebration of Three Kings). Their friends were impressed. 

Not too many years later, stores started figuring out that money could be made off of this new American holiday. Costumes could now be sold in October as well as in February (for Carnaval). Candy could be sold. Presents could be given. Okay - presents aren’t part of Halloween, but who knows? 

So Halloween made its entrance into Belgian and Dutch culture with an economic vengeance. Kids still don’t go door to door to get candy (people would not know what to do), but haunted houses and the scary bits have definitely entered the calendar if not the culture as yet. 

This day for us still means that little boy cradled in the palm of my hand and the man he has become. We are so thankful for Stephan, for his wife, Natalie and for the life they have together. 

(The picture is of Stephan with neighborhood friends on his birthday in our backyard)