Whale of a Good Time

On Halloween each year, we do our best to turn the secular holiday into one that glorifies God by focusing on the holy saints instead of ghouls, witches or make-believe superheroes. Why not focus on the "real" superheroes instead--those who loved Christ, served Him, and often died for His sake!? My husband and I became convicted about 8 years ago that we didn't want to be a part of the dark roots of Halloween. Plus, the fact that Halloween is still celebrated by Satanic groups and those in the Wicca religion really bothered us. So we decided to scrap trick-or-treating altogether for some good, holy fun instead. We always invite a group of Christian friends over for some heavenly food, some saintly games, some intercessory prayer asking the saints to help us grow in holiness, and then we share stories of our favorite saint or the saint we dressed up as for the party. Here is this year's rundown of who we chose as our saints:

• Paul: St. John Bosco


• Maria: St. Maria Goretti


• Joseph: St. Juan Diego


• Michael: St. Damien


• Dominic: St. Brendan


• Nathanael: St. George

We always end the celebration with letting the kids break open a homemade pinata. This year's pinata was a whale in honor of the saint Dominic chose to dress up as: St. Brendan the Navigator who is the patron saint of whales and sailors. All in all, it was a whale of a good time had by all!

This year was extra special because my mom was able to celebrate with us and help us prepare for the party. She helped the boys make their "Saint-O-Lanterns," in which they carved a symbol that represents the saint they chose to dress up as this year. She also helped me make Dominic's costume, clean my house, make the meal, and a million other things...THANKS, MOM! She didn't need to dress up as a saint for the party because she truly is a living saint! (Anyone who knows her would agree!)

This year's Saint-O-Lanterns: The pumpkin for St. Bosco and St. Maria Goretti has a cross symbol, St. Juan Diego has a picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe on it (Joseph drew the picture and did an incredible job!), St. Brendan has a whale, St. George has a spear, and St. Damien has a big "D" carved out to represent his name.

Joseph as Juan Diego, Maria as St. Maria Goretti, Nathanael as St. George, Dominic as St. Brendan, Paul as St. Bosco, and Michael as St. Damien.

Our saintly friends: Glen as St. Paul of the Cross, Lisa as St. Jacinta, Brian and Maria as their saintly selves, Jennifer as St. Esther, Beth as St. Elizabeth, Scott as St. Zachariah, Maria as St. Maria Goretti, and Paul as St. John Bosco.

All our saintly kids ready to eat their candy from the pinata!

St. George looks way too adorable and gentle to slay a dragon!

St. Brendan is ready to set sail and be a missionary for Christ!

Dominic dancing at his school costume parade where the class sang a few songs.

Michael as St. Damien and Joseph as St. Juan Diego at their school party. They had a blast playing games at all the different booths and winning lots of candy for prizes.

Michael and Joseph playing the "Halo Toss" game.

St. Michael covered in halos at the "Halo Toss" game.

Michael playing "Pin the Halo on the Saint" game.

Joseph ready to drop a rose from our balcony for our "St. Therese's Roses from Heaven" game.

A view from the balcony after the roses have been "showered from heaven." Whichever child dropped their rose closest to the picture of St. Therese was the winner. This game is always a big hit; the kids wanted to play this game over and over again.

Little Audrey ready to give the whale pinata a smack.

Michael's mighty batting skills sure payed off this year!