Trick or Treating on the Sabbath?

Every 7 years there's a bit of noise
in the cultured Universe about
Halloween being on a Sunday.
The dilemma, of course,
surrounding whether or not
people of faith
are going to participate in the
"trick or treating" celebration
or not.

I've lived in communities as a child,
where we simply moved the holiday to the
Saturday night,
and that was accepted by the community.
But that's not how it is here.

We have had this conversation in our own home
only 3 times with my yahoos.
(Remember,
my oldest is 27 and my youngest is 9.)
We don't trick or treat on the Sabbath.
We just don't.
We do have opportunities to celebrate though,
by going to our Church's
Trunk R' Treat during the week ahead,
and on the Sunday Halloween,
we'll make caramel apples or popcorn,
or some other treat
and we turn off our porch lights
so that our neighbors know
we're not participating in the
trick r' treating that year.
This year.

I'm not worried about offending my neighbors.
Those that know us,
know why.
We believe in keeping the Sabbath day holy.
We treat it differently every other week of the year--
my kids don't play on Sunday.
Sunday is Church and Family Day.
Just because a holiday falls on it,
doesn't change
how we honor the Sabbath.
This is how I "mother"-
I don't want my kids to rationalize away
what
"Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy"
means,
just like I don't want them to use the phrase:
"Everybody else is doing it!"
or
"You let us play last Sunday!"

Nope,
that's just not an argument I want.
It is unnecessary.
What we're talking about is pretty benign:
playing dress-up and going around to get some candy.

Well we did that already this week at the church party.
And the kids are having a party today at school.
Then on Sunday,
we'll have special treats with the family.

I think that's enough.

And I also look at it like this is just
One Halloween Sunday in the
Trick or Treating Life
of my yahoos,
maybe two
ever.

My oldest kids survived skipping it,
with no apparent damage to their self-esteems
or egos,
and maintained their neighborhood friendships
just fine.
So I think our family philosophy works for us.
And I don't have any negative feelings about those
whose philosophy differ.
That's what so cool about choosing your own standards--
you get to decide what they are in the first place
and how you want to live them.

These are our standards.
This is who we are.
 It feels good to have these small defining moments
come along once in a while
that encourages us to review our choices
n' see if we still feel the same way.

What's the deal in your family?
Inquiring minds wanna know.

I found another link about this same topic
you might enjoy too.
http://www.mormontimes.com/article/18016/Tiffany-Gee-Lewis-Is-the-Sabbath-day-trick-worth-the-treat