I love halloween.

Over the past couple of years I've really come to appreciate Halloween.  Unlike holidays such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter that are spent with family, Halloween along with July Fourth are to me, celebrations spent with neighbours.

Last year for the first time our church had a Reformation Party.  Being that Halloween landed on a Sunday it seemed fitting.  However, I was really, really ill that weekend and ended up being at home with just Isaiah.  And  you know what?  I was really glad I was.  That evening I answered the door to so many of our neighbours as they brought their children around for trick or treating. And many of them I didn't see again until Spring.

That's right.  In these neck of the woods, Halloween is one of the last times you see your neighbours before the weather seems to take a dive and it is cold and snowy.  Then so many of us simply open the garage door, pull in and close it.  But back to why I love Halloween. The relationships.

I treasure opportunities for building relationships.  I treasure opportunities to be a light in this world.  I treasure opportunities to share the gospel.  It's hard to do so when you are not interacting with others.  And Halloween lends itself to being a time to hang out with others.  And that is just what we did this year.

Sofia returned home from school at 4:00 p.m.  By 4:30 p.m. we met up with Viola and her two girls to begin our trick or treating.  (The village allowed for trick or treating only between the hours of 4:00 to 7:00 p.m.)

The picture above is our five kiddos.  Within 10 minutes our group grew as we met up with Saritha and her girls.

Unfortunately I don't have any more pictures of the group but it continued to grow.  We added Bianca and her son, Alicia and her son, and Sal and her two kids.  We were having so much fun going to every home in our subdivision that had a light on.  And then there was this dad and his son whom I had never seen before that was following in our footsteps.  Turns out they moved to our neighbourhood about six months ago.  After introducing myself and asking a few questions, it turns out they are looking for a church.  Well, I just happen to know of a great one so I shared.:)

Before we knew it, it was a little after 6:00 p.m.  The sky was getting dark, our hands were cold, and the buckets of candy were getting really heavy to carry.  Time to go inside. 

I love Halloween.  But really, I love my neighbours.