Last night was Rosedale Church's Halloween Bash. I swear there is nothing cuter than kids running arounda gym, boys with funky superhero masks over their heads, carrying too-big swords, or girls with pink frilly princess dresses on, tottering around in heels and carrying their magic wands to "make your wishes come true!" And of course getting all hyped-up on pure refined sugar!

It was also amazing to see the Body of Christ come together. We had dozens of volunteer adults, many of them coming in their own amazing costumes (yours truly included!) and chasing after kids, giving out candy, making sure the whole bash came off fantastically. All for the love of kids and Jesus.

It made me laughingly remember my Halloweens - or lack thereof - when I was growing up as a kid. I have distinct memories of dressing up until I was about 5 or 6 years old - costumes included Batwoman and a detective - and then Halloween was labelled "evil" and no longer celebrated. Instead we dutifully trampled off to the church's "Harvest Party" - conveniently held on Halloween night in order to give good Christians an alternative to trick-or-treating and whose requirements included coming dressed as a Bible character - or staying home with my parents and siblings, closing the drapes and shutting off all the lights so no kids would come to our door asking for candy, and watching Apocalypse and end-times themed Christian movies from the 80's. Which, by the way, are just as scary as some of Halloween's entertainments for a 10-year-old with a hyper imagination.

It really does make me laugh to remember it all - not in a mocking or derogatory way, but just that my experiences are so drastically different than many of the kids we saw last night. Some of the kids didn't have costumes - not because their parents were morally opposed to Halloween but because they didn't have the money, or were working too many hours to take their kids shopping for costumes, or simply didn't care enough to make the effort.

Because I am still very much in touch with my inner child, I absolutely relish in Halloween. The imaginations of children is something I think should be encouraged freely; the idea that today, you are a superhero out to save the world, or you are the most beautiful princess in the universe, or you are a slimy scary spider - the idea that kids can act as something else or become something else helps them explore the world they live in. Not to even mention they are too dang cute in their snug-as-a-bug costumes; especially the babies with their fat cheeks poking out of the face hole of some caterpillar onesie.

Let the kids dress up, for crying out loud!!!