When I was a kid, we did the Halloween costumes, trick-or-treat thing. But when I became a parent, I just didn't see the sense in it. I know alot of people have a hang up about Halloween and philosphizing and religion-izing. That's not it. We just didn't do it. But even though we didn't participate, we always had treats for others who came knocking on our door.
Emily loved, I mean loved, to give gifts. One time, my mom gave her a small stuffed animal and Emily immediately said "Give to Cayley." It hurt my mom's feelings, that Emily would think so little of the gift that she would give it away, but the reality was that Emily thought so much of Cayley, that she saw the gift as a way to bless to her friend.
So in that sense, Halloween was one of her favorite days. Emily had so much fun giving out candy to the kids who came to the house.
One year, our neighbor, Ed, brought his kids over for trick-or-treating and asked, not accusingly, but genuinely curiously, why Emily didn't go out on Halloween. I tried to explain, but really didn't have a solid answer. That was that, or so I thought.
Next year, Ed and his kids came over on Halloween and Emily passed out the candy, as excited as ever to be able to give. Ed, (and it makes me cry even now as I write, because he was so kind to remember and to think about her) brought over a bag of candy to give to Emily.
She was so excited to receive that candy. She danced around and acted like she'd never, ever, been given a gift of anything. She gave Ed a big hug. But the crazy thing about Em, when the next batch of kids came to the door, she promptly gave that bag of candy away. Somehow, she could see that the real gift isn't in HAVING a thing, the real gift is in the act of GIVING a thing And she gave out of a heart of love.
