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TRICK or TREAT; YES or NO??
Me

Posted on 10/23/2001 9:38:21 AM PDT by X-Servative

Playing with my children (5 & 3) last night, the innocence of childhood took on new meaning with all that has happened over the past 6 to 7 weeks. It is our job as parents to ensure that our children are safe, all the while preserving the innocence and magic of childhood. Therefore, we will be trick or treating this year, and possibly exchange the candy for some we bought when they’re not looking (haven’t decided yet).

Bottom line: these terrorists will not steal my chidren’s childhood by replacing fear with joy.

Happy Halloween!!!


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To: winna
How much are your paying? I'd be happy to ship my kids dole to you for $$. Do you use paypal? :)
21 posted on 10/23/2001 9:58:35 AM PDT by Solson
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To: Carlucci
Right now I'm struggling to choke down the last of my kids' Easter candy to make room for the coming avalanche.
22 posted on 10/23/2001 9:59:12 AM PDT by Physicist
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To: X-Servative
It's actually more of a scheduling thing for us this year. I'll be on the way back home from a conference. My wife will take our boys to the Fall Festival at church. The youngest is too young to Trick or Treat. The oldest understands and is okay with that.

Still, if our schedules were a little different, we probably wouldn't hesitate to let him Trick or Treat in our neighborhood.

Somehow though, the whole concept of ghosts, goblins, skeletons and plastic tombstones seems grossly out of place to me this year.

Halloween Safety?.

23 posted on 10/23/2001 9:59:37 AM PDT by Ward Smythe
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To: X-Servative
yes indeed!!

I'm not afraid of "tainted candy". As a matter of fact,

in the 34 years I've been enjoying Halloween, I've yet to meet

or talk to ONE SINGLE PERSON who received "tainted candy"

Never.

I will, as always inspect carefully everthing my kid gets

If I feel something (like snickers bars) isn't quite right, I confiscate it on the spot. (and eat it)

24 posted on 10/23/2001 9:59:45 AM PDT by WhiteGuy
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To: Coleus
Hey come on now, who needs written proof when dead bones are hanging from trees? When witches are plastered all over the place? This is Satan holiday--it's not a holiday for any god. Seriously though there is a story behind all of this ritual but I don't have it handy. Maybe someone else around here does.
25 posted on 10/23/2001 10:01:02 AM PDT by Boxsford
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To: hsmomx3
What did you teach your kids to call the days of the week, or the constellations?
26 posted on 10/23/2001 10:01:42 AM PDT by Physicist
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To: X-Servative
Same as last year. Going trick or treating with the young 'uns around the neighborhood, checking the treats later, and hosting a small party for friends.

Oh, and shutting off the lights and closing the drapes to keep the for the 20 something yutes and their middle aged mothers from soliciting candy.

27 posted on 10/23/2001 10:02:41 AM PDT by mgc1122
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To: X-Servative
Staying home. The kids are turning the barn into a haunted house, where if the weather isn't too cold they will camp out overnight with the goats. We'll also make chocolate chip cookies and let them eat the dough.
28 posted on 10/23/2001 10:03:06 AM PDT by Lizavetta
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To: Solson
How much are your paying? I'd be happy to ship my kids dole to you for $$. Do you use paypal? :)

I may end up paying him in Legos... still interested? ;-)

29 posted on 10/23/2001 10:03:09 AM PDT by winna
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To: X-Servative
We're going to dress up as witches and demons, read Harry Potter, and drink red kool-aid, chant stuff etc, etc.

We want to make sure God blesses us during this time of war

/sarcasm>

30 posted on 10/23/2001 10:03:17 AM PDT by spycatcher
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To: Coleus
So, where is the written proof of this pagan holiday? And what god did they worship? What is the pagan symbol of the pumkin?

It is all explained by that renowned theologian, Jack Chick, in his heavily researched tract, BOO!. Before this tract came out, everybody thought Halloween was just a fun holiday. Thanx to Jack Chick, we have learned to be afraid, VERY AFRAID.

Click on the cartoon to see Jack Chick explain in a comix story about the evil satanic force behind Haloween.


31 posted on 10/23/2001 10:03:18 AM PDT by PJ-Comix
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To: Coleus
You want proof of pagan holiday? Go here,

http://www.religioustolerance.org/hallo_np.htm

32 posted on 10/23/2001 10:04:53 AM PDT by Don Myers
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To: Physicist
HA! get busy!

some one else mentioned zagnut bars, those are the worst.

In my neighborhood, the parents who walk around with their kids "trick or treat" for beers.

only bad part is having to slow up the group by calling for a "pit stop"

33 posted on 10/23/2001 10:05:04 AM PDT by WhiteGuy
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To: winna
NO! I have a decent 401k's worth of legos in the basement. :)
34 posted on 10/23/2001 10:05:09 AM PDT by Solson
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To: Coleus
Are you serious? The origins of Halloween are quite commonly known to have been pagan. Type Samhain into any search engine and read a little.

Here's a link from Google - The Origins and History of Halloween

Interesting you mention pumpkins. The article (it's short enough to post) -

Next to Christmas, Halloween is the most commercialized celebration in the United States and Canada. This ancient festival originated far from North America however, and centuries before the first European set foot on the continent.

The ancient Druids who inhabited what we now call Great Britain placed great importance on the passing of one season to the next, holding "Fire Festivals" which were celebrated for three days (two days on either side of the day itself).

One of these festivals was called Samhain (pronounced Sha-Von) and it took place on October 31 through to November 1. During this period, it was believed that the boundaries between our world and the world of the dead were weakened, allowing spirits of the recently dead to cross over and possess the living.

In order to make themselves and their homes less inviting to these wayward spirits, the ancient Celts would douse all their fires. There was also a secondary purpose to this, after extinguishing all their fires, they would re-light them from a common source, the Druidic fire that was kept burning at Usinach, in the Middle of Ireland.

Samhain was considered to be a gateway not only from the land of the dead to the land of the living, but also between Summer and Fall/Winter. For the Druids, this was the last gasp of summer (it was also the Celtic New Year), so therefore they made sure it went out with a bang before they had to button down for the winter ahead.

They would dress up in bizarre costumes and parade through their villages causing destruction in order to scare off any recently departed souls who might be prowling for bodies to inhabit, in addition to burning animals and other offerings to the Druidic deities. It is also a popular belief that they would burn people who they believed to be possessed, but this has largely been debunked as myth.

This yearly festival was adopted by the Roman invaders, who helped to propagate it throughout the rest of the world (and at that time, the Roman Empire was the world). The word "Halloween" itself actually comes from a contraction of All Hallows Eve, or All Saint's Day (November 1), which is a Catholic day of observance in honour of saints.

This tradition was later brought to the North American continent by Irish immigrants who were escaping the Potato Famine in their homeland. In addition to the festival itself, the immigrants brought several customs with them, including one of the symbols most commonly associated with Halloween -- the Jack 'O Lantern.

According to Irish folklore, there once lived a man named Jack who was known for being a drunk and a prankster. One night Jack tricked the devil into climbing a tree, and quickly carved an image of a cross on the trunk, trapping the devil. Jack then made him promise that, in exchange for letting him out of the tree, the Devil would never tempt him to sin again. He reluctantly agreed, but was able to exact his revenge upon Jack's death. Because of his mischevious ways in life, Jack was barred from entering heaven and because of his earlier trick, he was also barred from hell. So he was doomed to wander the earth until the end of time, with only a single ember (carried in a hollowed out turnip) to warm him and light his way.

In Ireland, they originally also used turnips for their "Jack Lanterns", but upon arriving in the new world, they discovered that pumpkins were abundant and easier to carve out.

35 posted on 10/23/2001 10:05:44 AM PDT by agrace
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To: BikerNYC
You seem to have gotten through it okay and are now a Christian. Might not your kids do the same?

How true. Also, which commandment is being broken by trick or treating? And I don't want to hear anything about "false idols", unless you plan on lumping the Easter Bunny in there.

:)

36 posted on 10/23/2001 10:06:25 AM PDT by danneskjold
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To: X-Servative
Religious issues aside (and I'm not engaging in a debate as to whether or not Halloween has pagan origins), it is paranoid for parents to be afraid of having their kids go door to door as has been the custom for many years. Reasonable caution should be exercised, as always. For example, a parent should not let their kids eat unwrapped or unbranded candy from homes where they don't know the occupants. But that should be the case at any time.

Our terrorist enemies want us to engage in unreasoning fear. There are legitimate reasons to be afraid. But letting little kids go trick or treating should not be one of them.

37 posted on 10/23/2001 10:07:20 AM PDT by Wallace T.
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To: Solson
I'm trick and treating but avoiding all the terrorist homes in the neighborhood.

You can still come to my place. BtD is still keeping his time-honored tradition of Cartridges For Kiddies, in the caliber of their choice. One year a cute little nipper kept switching costumes until she had her entire Uzi magazine filled at my expense. The kids these days!

38 posted on 10/23/2001 10:07:32 AM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: X-Servative
I can't imagine why you and your kids shouldn't eat the candy unless you live in a really sick neighborhood. If you know your neighbors, and none of them are, or might be, Muslim terrorists, there's really no reason to worry.
39 posted on 10/23/2001 10:08:44 AM PDT by Cicero
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To: X-Servative
Why replace the candy? Do you think your neighbors will poison it? Because if the candy was poisoned at the factory, replacement is not going to make any difference... So you don't trust the people on your block??
40 posted on 10/23/2001 10:09:13 AM PDT by Koblenz
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