Ethan’s Mom:

I hate Halloween.

I didn’t always hate Halloween.  I grew up trick or treating in my little neighborhood.  I have fond memories of a fall festival at my elementary school, particularly the cakewalk.  I even won a costume contest once in an elephant outfit my grandmother made.  I think the prize was something like a $10 gift certificate to the local drug store.  We never did anything scary, so I never really thought of the “dark side” of October 31^st.  I figured if you didn’t participate in the scary stuff, you could just ignore it.

Until last year, when it seemed that every street had at least one lawn decorated with faux tombstones, and my children started asking why people had stones like we see at the place to think about Ethan in their yards.  Then it hit me, how much of this celebration glamorizes death.

Newsflash y’all – death is bad.  Very, very bad.  And it is hard for me to be surrounded by symbols and reminders of it, no matter how whimsical they may seem or how cute kids (including mine) look in their superhero and princess costumes.

So, as we move from the witches and skeletons of October into the season of Thanksgiving, I am thankful that no matter who or what says otherwise, death LOSES.  No matter how many years I will look around and wonder what Ethan would have wanted to dress up as for our church fall festival or book character day at school, we will not be separated forever.  One day the flesh and bones of this world will be raised imperishable, and we won’t fear anything ever again.  Come Lord Jesus.