Trunk-or-Treat!

As I'm sure everyone is aware at this point, today is Halloween! I've been pretty bummed lately because, after leaving Homecoming last week, I realized how much I've been missing college. And Halloween has only served to reinforce this, because Halloween in college is a blast. We get dressed up, get loud, and have awesome parties, and I'm not doing any of those things this year. Growing up doesn't seem like a lot of fun. So, I was starting to get pretty disappointed.

But then, something awesome happened. My church happened. Halloween kicked off for me this past Wednesday, when my church had our weekly dinner. After dinner, I always take the 2-5 year olds for Mission Friends class while their parents enjoy their own class, and since Halloween was approaching, I tried to gear the class towards that. I brought in a carved pumpkin, sat it next to an uncarved pumpkin, lit the carved pumpkin, and then turned off the lights. I compared the lit pumpkin to the Bible verse, "Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house" (NIV Matthew 5:15). We talked about how it's better to let your love for Jesus shine so everyone can see it, and then we colored in a pumpkin from a coloring book that I'd made copies of. This wasn't exactly a wild party, but it gave me such a nice feeling that it beat out every college Halloween I've experienced.

The kids in my class with their pumpkins.

Then, the next night, our church hosted a Trunk-or-Treat! To give you an understanding of what this is, I'll have to explain a little bit. I live in the boonies. Literally, the middle of nowhere (I say that lovingly. Don't walk away thinking I'm not COMPLETELY in love with where I live! I wouldn't trade my town for anything). Our very rural area has few neighborhoods, so most kids don't live in a neighborhood where they can go trick-or-treating. My neighbors are actually cows and chickens. Oh, and a couple horses. So, knowing this, a lot of churches in the area (and some other organizations) put together fall festivals, including trunk-or-treating. Everyone opens their trunks, decorates them, and then passes out candy as kids come around trick-or-treating out of the trunks!

My candy bowl before it was raided.

Because my church is pretty awesome, we host a trunk-or-treat every year, and this year, I got to include my trunk! I was told that we didn't want to do anything scary, so, since I wasn't really sure what people did, I got some pretty simple fall decorations; some colorful leaves, a fall-patterned ribbon, some scarecrows, and then I included our pumpkins! Chris and I set everything up, and, when he was whisked away to man the fire (where kids were cooking s'mores), I settled in to pass out candy.

Chris on fire duty.



This was nothing like a college Halloween party. It wasn't crazy, and it was geared towards the kids. But it was a blast! I had so much fun getting our trunk all decorated, watching the costumed kids come through as I passed out candy, and fellowshiping with my friends who were participating. This was such a drastic change from how I spent my Halloween last year, but it was a nice change of pace, and I really can't remember when I enjoyed Halloween more. If this is what growing up is like, maybe it won't be so bad!! Happy Halloween y'all!!!

Our trunk all decorated!