Thankful for Fun Celebrations

Growing up as a PK (preacher's kid), I often heard the critiques about my family and others like ours who celebrate and dress up for Halloween.  I used to roll my eyes...and sometimes I still do.  However, now that I'm older I understand the philosophy behind their not celebrating Halloween.  But I still don't understand the criticizing others who choose to do so in a benign way.  I have seen a few articles floating around Facebook lately on how Christians should celebrate Halloween.  And my favorite line I read was from this article...

Instead of asking myself WHY I choose to celebrate Halloween.  Perhaps the better question is HOW I choose to celebrate it.  In our family, we chose to celebrate by dressing up, inviting friends over to help us pass out candy with a smile and lots of fun to the trick-or-treaters in my sister's neighborhood.  We invited friends we know in for soup and laughs.  All in good fun.  We provided a fun environment for friends and strangers to exchange smiles, "thank you"s, and "I love your costume"s!

How did you choose to celebrate Halloween?

I debated back and forth over what Millie Janalee would be for Halloween.  I tend to steer away from costumes I've seen several times before.  This could prove to be a challenge for me very soon.  My mom was showing me a few cute ones she saw in a magazine during one of our visits, and it cracked me up!  A little garden gnome!  As I was looking online for one that could save me some money, I came across adult gnome costumes.

That was it!  I was hooked.  Now, it took Russ a little longer to come around.  Like, I had to order our adult costumes the week before Halloween when he finally gave in to the gnome family idea.  Ha!  I'm so glad he did, because we were so cute!  {In my humble opinion!}

I know what you are thinking.  Poor Millie Janalee in that wig and hat.  I will admit that I have absolutely NO pictures of her smiling from the night, but I assure you she had a great time!  I promise.  And I didn't make her wear the wig the whole time.  But you don't see any tears do you?  The night before, I sewed some ribbon to the hat so that I could tie it on her head.  This kept her from being able to pull it off.  It was adorable!

Last year, Kristin and Lee started a little Halloween party at their house so we all could dress up and enjoy the night together.  We had a great time!  It was pouring down rain most of the day and night, but the rain let up enough for all those excited little ones to come knocking after awhile.  I'm sure the parents wanted to get some use out of those costumes too!  We had a house full.

And so begins the parade of Smith family costumes...

Kristin and Lee...A Bun in the Oven and the Bun Maker.

Dustin as Lieutenant Dan from Forest Gump

The whole family

My dad pretty much had a great time peeping through the little window on the front door before giving out the candy.  All decked out in his biker gear.  All of this was in his wardrobe.  Seriously.  Who owns a mask like that?! 

Preacherman Biker

We invited the Clardys over for the night.  Caroline and Millie Janalee are 12 days apart, and we are pretty much forcing them to be best friends.  Ha!  They threw together the cutest little Halloween ensemble after little bit was scared to death of her first costume.  It was perfect!  A football player, coach, cute little cheerleader, and even Mary Anne's mom came dressed the part!  She had her letter jacket there too, but it's not in the picture. 

The Clardy crew

Millie Janalee and Caroline ate their makeshift suppers together and spent the night walking all over the place.  Their little legs must get exhausted at the end of the day.  Seriously non-stop walking.  Millie Janalee tried to force feed Caroline a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup several times, so we finally ended up letting them each have one.  These little girls are just the cutest little pair!

Mary Anne's sister and her family also came by for some fun!  The kids enjoyed some taco soup and opened some Halloween happies from Mary Anne.  I don't have a picture of Ronald and Jenny, but we sure enjoyed their visit!

And of course, Millie Janalee's night would not be complete without a visit from Grace and Aunt Jenny!  Grace is Millie Janalee's friend (and big cousin)!  She loves to see her coming.  And I'm pretty sure it's safe to say that the feeling is mutual.  While Jenny visited with us all, Grace and her friend took over Millie Janalee duty.  They do a great job babysitting.  And I didn't get a single picture of Aunt Jenny, but she looked as pretty as ever. 

This girl loves her big cousin!

But she still loves her freedom..."Let me get down and walk!"

"These braids are in my way!"

Just before we loaded the car to head back home, Will and Elle texted us that they were on their way.  I'm so glad we got to see them before we left.  Or else we would have missed their costumes too!  It's pretty hilarious.  I'll let you take your own guesses as to what Will is dressed as. 

Will, Elle, and Millie Janalee

At the end of the night, we were all filled with food, candy, and good memories!  Thankful for ANY reason for a fun celebration with family and friends! 

Happy Halloween!