a sugar-free halloween...

I (Amy) love Halloween. I personally think all Christians should. (See here why I think it's one of THE most Christian holidays of the year!) Last year we hosted a neighborhood meet-and-greet in our front yard and it was a fabulous chance to get out of our houses and be a community together, even if just for a few short hours. It's the ONE day a year when we all commit to be outward facing to the people that live right around us!

This year? Well, like I've shared in previous posts, the thought of Halloween (& all upcoming holidays really) was discouraging. After all we've been through with food and "nutritional therapy" this year, I have been DREADING the darn day. (When your kid can't have a single piece of candy, the thought of having to withhold and say "no" to something that is normally so fun and communal is depressing to me.)

I didn't have a costume in mind. Didn't know how we were going to handle the whole "trick or treat" thing. Didn't know what the day would hold for us. LITERALLY until that afternoon when Marc & I finally sat down to make our game plan.

But who knew you could actually have a blast at Halloween without sugar?!? (granted it's easier when you're a 2 yr. old & the only kid in the house, too...)


Thanks to Mommy's cousin, who gave us a ton of dress up clothes when I was just a baby, I had a Snow White costume ready to go!




And of course I've got a Prince Charming, too.


The slipper fit. :)

And instead of him riding on a horse...

...this time he put ME on one! All by myself!


A church right down the street from us held an outside carnival for the community, so after we threw on our costume, we met up there with my best bud, Leah!

On a sugar-free Halloween, you can do lots of things:


Take a hayride.


Ride a tractor. (At first I wasn't so sure about this tractor ride with our Dads-- I put my fingers in my ears when I get scared. It helps me cope.) ha!


Come on, Leah. Let's go play!


Now THIS was FUN!!!


REALLY fun!!!


I sat really still and even got my face painted!


See?


Then it was time to go trick-or-treating down our street.


It was a BLAST to ring people's doorbells, say "trick or treat" and then get to fill up my basket with candy! (I mean, you could've put anthing in there-- sticks, rocks, pennies-and I would've been just happy! It was the activity that was so fun.)

Then we took my basket FILLED to the brim with candy, brought it home, and then dumped it into our big candy basket, and the NEXT part of the game was that I got to hand out all of the candy to the kids that came to our door! (so we "trick-or-treated" not for ourselves, you see, but to give to others.... nice, huh?....)

Again, it was so exciting to me when the doorbell would ring and I could rush down the stairs to see the kids and then fill up THEIR bags & baskets with candy.


(except when they were dressed scary... fingers in ears again..) :)

Wanna know what we did with the rest of my candy?? Well, I left it in a basket and then sometime in the night, the "Candy Fairy" came, took my candy, and brought me a toy! (kinda like the "tooth fairy," ya know?) Very fun.

So praise God. It was a GREAT day. And without a single piece of candy. (well, before my bedtime, that is...) :)

And the only thing that I really care about...


is this.