No idea. If Little M goes to a Halloween Party like he has the last couple years, probably just some couple time with Mrs. M while he's out.

 

Mendalla

 

Not sure but, at the very least, I like to take a stroll through the neighbourhood and see the kids in their costumes. 

Ah, some alone time. Good plan.

They always look so cute.

I'll be dressing for my square dance groups' halloween party a few days before the 31st.  (I think I'll go as a square dancer - No - they wouldn't know I was in costume).  On the 31st I will be handing out treats - but no scripture passages.  We don't get a lot of kids so I will probably have time for TV or reading, or to catch a nap before bedtime.

Somegal - I love the idea of walking around and watching the kids in costume.  Perhaps I could take a drive down to a nearby, newer area where there are two or three kids in almost every house (not like my mature area).

Hope you have fun at your square dancing. I've heard that it's great fun but have never tried it myself.

One year I was in rural northern NB on October 31. My aunt had Halloween treats ready, but not a single child came to her door. She took it in stride, and we enjoyed the treats ourselves.

Your aunt planned that.

 

Oh, no. Seriously? Are you not worried that some parents will freak on you for proselytizing to children?

 

Please tell me this is in opposition to violence against women.

 

Walking the nighbourhood with my daughter. My son will still be in the rehab hospital.

 

I always buy treats that I like myself - just in case.

Hi Dcn. Jae,

 

 

I was thinking that this year I would re-read Luther's 95 Theses.

 

Passing out candy is a bust on our street.  Hi speed traffic, hedges separating most properties and 50+ ft driveways do not make our street on the block profitable for Trick-or-Treaters.  That and the fact that the other side of the street is CN's Windsor to Toronto corridor means that we see very few in costume.

 

Nothing planned at the Church except for the regular choir practice.

 

Grace and peace to you.

John

We buy extra as well. I'm just suggesting that Jae's aunt may have been well aware that the expected trick-or-treater count would be zero. Nothing wrong with that.

 

 

We'll be handing out candy. The numbers vary from year to year so it's hard to plan. Sometimes we get just a handful of kids; last year I think we had about 30. 

 

My daughter is 9 - and for some reason not all that enthused about Halloween. If I remember correctly I don't think she even went out last year. Undecided about this year so far. Some kids!

 

I'm intrigued by the "Take Back The Night" party at Dcn.Jae's church, in the sense that I don't know what it is. I assume that's a kind of "anti-Halloween" thingy? The local Pentecostal Church here has done what they call a "Hallelujah Party" on October 31, complete with dress-up, in Christian-friendly themes. Strikes me as dull, to be honest. Don't know if it's planned this year. On the other hand I have a good friend who's a Pentecostal pastor - and he loves Halloween, and the scarier the better!  

 

Our church has had enquiries made as to whether we'd host a Grade 7 & 8 Halloween dance for students at a local school which has been in the media far beyond our little area lately for "cancelling Halloween." Church Council will discuss it next Tuesday. Should be interesting.

I'll be dressing up after decorating the outside porch, and carving the pumpkin.  Then I'll spend a wonderful evening answering the door, shelling out, and chatting with all the kids - big & small, who come trick or treating.  I enjoy it and so do they - it's remarkable how many will say "oh last year you dressed up like a ... "  and they're usually right!  

Your concern is heard, appreciated, and understood. It's my hope that no one will be offended by our celebrating Reformation Day. We will put a sign on our front door to mark what day we are celebrating.

 

Please tell me this is in opposition to violence against women.[/quote] Oops, yeah, got the name wrong there, sorry. My church actually calls its annual party "Celebrate the Light."

 

Walking the nighbourhood with my daughter. My son will still be in the rehab hospital.

 

[/quote] You'll have a fun time in the neighborhood with your daughter I'm sure. It would be nice for your whole family if your son could be with you too.

Ooh, I do that too, only I wait til November 1st, in order to get the savings.

No, I think not. It may rather have been a consequence of two things. One, in her working life she had been a rather stern school principal and I'm sure the parents of the kids would have remembered her as such. Two, once she retired she was not very active in the village community, and hence some may have thought her unapproachable.

Sweet. Me too. I'm also thinking of getting a copy of the movie "Luther" to watch. Have you seen it revjohn, and, if so, what was you opinion?

 

Not many kids go door-to-door in our neighborhood either. When I was a kid there were many kids going out on October 31, but the majority of people here now are seniors whose kids have grown up and moved out.

Yes, I would agree that she expected it.

Hi Dcn. Jae,

 

 

I haven't and if I had 2003 to live over again I'd rather have watched this than Gibson's The Passion of the Christ.  It got fairly solid reviews.  It is also Sir Peter Ustinov's last movie.

 

Grace and peace to you.

John

I think kids get to an age when they stop caring. I remember in our area, after the little kids first went out and had finished then the older ones would go out, some even into their teenaged years, often carrying pillowcases to put their collected loot into.

 

We think of our "Celebrate the Light" party (I got the name wrong in my earlier post) as an alternative to Halloween. We have snacks like cookies, chocolate bars, chips and pop together. Some years we've shown a movie, other years we've gone swimming at a local indoor pool. We always enjoy a good night of fun and Christian fellowship.  

 

Yes, it should be.

 

I know your question was directed to revjohn - but I have seen "Luther." It's a very good movie. Joseph Fiennes is excellent as Luther. The impression one gets of Luther from the movie is of a man unhappy about the breach in the church caused by his tecahings. That his goal was to reform the church, not split it - which was probably true.

 

One weakness is that the movie doesn't really look at Luther's darker side, such as his anti-semitism.

 

Interestingly, I thought that one of the most dramatic and moving scenes in the movie didn't even involve Luther. It was the scene in which the German princes stand up to Emperor Charles and refuse his command to silence Luther and his doctrines.

 

It's a great movie. You'll enjoy it.

Thank you Rev. Steven for the review. You do make it sound worth viewing. I wanted to see it when it was out in the theaters but just never got around to it. I'll see if On Demand has it, or maybe get it on Ntflx.

Okay, thank you revjohn for your reply. I've enjoyed the acting of Sir Peter Ustinov before. What role does he play in Luther?

I stock up on some sort of special item to give out on All Hallows Eve.  Typically we only get a few kids coming to our door.  Most of them are pretty close to silent - they don't chant out Trick or Treat anymore, neither do they seem capable of holding up one end of a bit of verbal communication.  The kids who show up tend to be preschool age to about ten.

When my children were little this event seemed to be much more fun.  Lots of children going door to door.  It started with the younger ones as soon as school was dismissed for the day.  Later in the evening the older crowd laughed and chanted with great glee.  Innocent, harmless tricks were played.  Nowadays this age group are missing from the old fashioned style activity.  One of the service clubs hosts a free event with food, sugar drinks, door prizes and contests - lots of loud music too. 

Most parents seem to help their children sort the loot they acquire.  Some candy may be traded with a sibling or friend.  I have heard several people talk about throwing Bible tracts and Christian literature directly into the garbage.

 

  That's about the age I was when I stopped participating in Hallowe'en.  The last several years I have been known to turn out all the lights and watch a 'scary' movie like Arsenic and Old Lace.

Hi Dcn. Jae,

 

 

He plays Frederick the Wise.  A very interesting historical figure.

 

Grace and peace to you.

John

Yes, the little ones are very cute in their costumes and I like those mini chocolate bars.
Other than that, I'm not a fan of Hallowe'en. I find it over the top ikky. Consumer excess, cheap junk made by grossly underpaid third world labour, and IMO atrocious, violent costumes & masks. There are images that I don't think little kids should have to internalize.
But I'm an old party pooper.
What happened to inventive home-made costumes?

Our pastor cancelled our annual party, and is encouraging the parents of our church to take their kids to the local Pentecostal church instead. He says they have an excellent program there, and that the kids will leave with, "boatloads of candy."

 

Meanwhile, our youth pastor is organizing a heavy metal Christian rock concert for the youth. That's relatvely easy for him to do since he's one of the musicians in the band tt will be performing.

 

That leaves us adults-without-kids without a church party to go to on the 31st. The youth pastor suggested to me that I organize something, but there's no church space for us to have a get-together in, since the youth will be rocking out there.

 

Maybe I'll organize a meet up to go out Reformation Day carolling together. We'll wander up and down the streets of Etobicoke singing, "A Mighty Fortress is our God."

House parties are fun :)

 

True, but our house is not big enough to safely and comfortably hold all the adults who would be invited.

Don't get arrested for rowdiness jae!  

Why do you think the adults need a party to go to?  Seems like the purpose of the other events is to take kids away from the usual trick-or-treating; since adults don't usually do that, I'm a bit puzzled. 

I don't like coming home from work dodging firecrackers. They startle me. I don't really like going out on Halloween night. Our friends don't have Holloween parties. In my 20's and even 30's they still did. I used to really like trick or treating as a kid- couldn't wait for Halloween- i usually brought home quite the hall. My mom sometimes gave out crappy stuff as far as I was concerned, then, though. Like raisins and sunflower seeds. The cool kids gave out chocolate bars.

We don't have kids at the door in our building but some do. There's an old house owned by parks and rec that does a haunted house. I think a lot of families with kids go there.

I'll be handing out candy at home.  We have quite a few kids here.  I'm hoping chemguy will help, but he can be a Halloween-scrouge, so we'll see.

 

In previous years the idea that our whole church would come together as a community to "celebrate the light."

 

However, maybe, yeah, with the kids away at their Pentecostal event the community is divided up anyway, so maybe the adults don't need to get together that night.

 

Perhaps I will just stay home, watch Luther, and make fudge.

I haven't ever seen firecrackers go off for halloween, I wouldn't enjoy that either.

Those loud squeally things that spin out across the sidewalk. No? I haven't had one thrown in front of me for awhile, but it's happened. And I hear them squeal and snap and pop into the wee hours. Teenagers probably. Or 20 something "kids" downtown having fun making noise throwing them onto the sidewalk or out into the street. I think they're only legal on Halloween. Yeah, on Halloween night especially you'll hear them, and for several days after.

Nope.  It might just be the area of the city that I'm in, but if they are really common here I'm surprised I didn't come across them either on campus or by my apartment.

 

I do really dislike driving on Halloween.  I remember driving to a dance class during peak trick or treating time, as well as driving home from university classes.

Really!? Huh. I took for granted they were a halloween 'thing' in all Canadian cities, I guess. Even where I grew up, suburban kids, older teens, played with them on Halloween only.

When I was in Waterloo, I was shocked to see fireworks on display.  I found out later Calgary has much stricter rules about that kind of stuff, I don't know if it's the whole province.  I have heard fireworks go off in Edmonton, never seen them for sale though.  I don't know if the firecrackers would fall under the same laws.

Not fireworks per say. Although some neighbourhoods do have little fireworks displays. I mean specifically noise making ones they're almost like zipping, spinning sparklers thrown on the road that make a loud noise when they fizzle across the pavement. They are annoying, and I think too dangerous. Could take someone's toe off if they stepped on it. They are really made to startle people.

Yeah, I suspect they just fall under the same laws here though.

I found this for BC:

http://www.canadianhalloween.com/CanadianHalloweenFireworksRegulations.html

And this for AB:

http://www.unclejohnsfireworks.com/rally.html

• Alberta is the only province that requires permits to use family fireworks on private, rural land.
• Alberta is the only province where the government is actively banning family fireworks in counties and municipalities where there have been no problems.
• Fireworks are federally regulated. Alberta is the only province that has additional, unnecessary rules on storage, transport and sale of family fireworks.
• Alberta specifically bans some family fireworks even though they are legal everywhere else in Canada and have no history of safety or fire hazard.

 

I'm not about to go through digging through bylaws or anything, but I suspect that's probably why :)  I do know people who would set stuff off while camping, but I think it was always purchased out of province.  It might just be too much of a hassle to obtain for Halloween.

I guess it's not just AB:

Halloween fireworks aren't a widespread practice in Canada, apparently common only in B.C. and Nova Scotia. But officials (and terrified family pets) cringe at the annual ritual.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dailybrew/halloween-fireworks-popular-van...

It's been going on since I was a kid. Ah, so that makes sense why you don't see them there. I think that's better and I do think they're a safety hazard. Really. Make them illegal.

So do I.

Yeah, it seems like a huge fire hazard to me.  Even with the safer ones, it doesn't take much for some dry leaves or grass to start a fire.

I know, and a safety hazard for sure. I have always heard about kids losing fingers and toes. Never knew anyone- but the dangers are known. Bad idea. They're not toys! They should require a license like AB requires. Kids can't (and shouldn't) get a pack of cigarettes but they can get those things. Nonsense.

I will hand out treats.

 

I will only buy a few - usually I buy lots and eat the leftovers, but this year I can't eat candy :(

 

Usually we have the little ones late afternoon, school age after school, and then a few bigger ones come out in the evening.

 

Jae - I'm puzzled by your pastor's words.  Could you ask him, on my behalf, what value he sees in providing children with 'boat loads of candy'?  Why would a church encourage such greed?