Plot Points #21 🍂
Halloween favorites, book bans, and creating things from scratch
Hi friends and happy Friday!
I love October for many reasons, but one of the best things about it is the plethora of gigantic Halloween skeletons to be found around our neighborhood. I’ve seen whole families of them just chillin’ on multiple lawns. One near Lucy’s school even has a pumpkin head with wild, creepy eyes that follow us when we pass.
My kids love to give me a play-by-play of their favorite decorations from the backseat:
“Ohmygosh! That spider looks so real!”
“Mommy, it waved at me!”
“Ew, a clown. I hate clowns!”
(Same, kid.)
When I was little, I wasn’t allowed to go trick-or-treating. This was my dad’s rule more so than my mom’s and I always fought back against it. We had “Hallelujah” parties at our church instead (yes, you read that right) where we…
…literally did everything other kids do on Halloween, except we were dressed up in angel and superhero costumes.
(Receipts! Also, I recreated this look in college, albeit a little less precious 😜.)
I know some Christian parents who have concerns about this holiday, and I share a few of them. I’m not blind to how humans like to dress up ugly things and call them good. BUT I believe Halloween can be a healthy time of laughter and play, a time of learning the difference between good and evil, and a necessary opportunity to help our children build their imaginations.
One of my favorite YouTubers, Autumn Kern, has a short video series about how fairy tales can tell us many true things about the world, even if they aren’t actually facts. Autumn is amazing and I think keeping her perspective in mind during Halloween will be incredibly helpful for Christian parents who feel stuck between a rock and a hard place at this time of year.
Also, before we go…
When I was eleven, I did finally convince my dad—using a lengthy argument detailing the Christian origins of Halloween—to let me go trick-or-treating.
BEHOLD my very first Halloween costume in The Year of Our Lord 1996:
Good times 😸. Lucy comes by her love of cats honestly.
Have a lovely weekend, friends! Thanks for sharing some of your time with me this week.
Point #1: We must build to discover.
I am often compelled to think about times when our communities were more local; when people took more time to savor + create; when the world didn’t move at a thousand miles an hour. What remains from so many of those civilizations reminds us how deeply human we are, and this amazing story about a group of people who set out to build a 13th-century castle using only 13th-century tools has me considering how I can build things in my own life that will stand the test of time.
Point #2: Wide-leg pants are a tall woman’s dream.
I recently thrifted a very nice pair of wide-leg trousers and I’m obsessed. Check out these similar versions to inspire your fall wardrobe, if that’s your vibe. (Then maybe purchase some through ThredUp to help the environment AND your wallet?)
Point #3: Books are the solution, not the problem.
This thought-provoking piece on ways both conservatives and progressives have politicized books is an excellent conversation starter about how we need stories that tell us true things about the world…even if those things are hurtful or hard to face.
Point #4: Eeeek!
This trailer stopped me in my tracks.
Bonus Point: Simone Biles is forever the moment.
Is there anything she can’t do?
A Collect: For the Love of Autumn
Creator Abba, Maker of crunchy leaves and soft, gentle breezes, grant us attention to the tiny, ordinary details of this season, to the goodness of passing moments, so that we, too, may be renewed in time, to the glory of Your Name, and to our Savior, Jesus, and to the Holy Spirit, who lives and reigns with You, one God, for all eternity. Amen.
Reading In The Nook
This week, I finished Ali Hazelwood’s Love, Theoretically, the most recent of her delightfully scientific rom-coms. I loved it! Hazelwood is adept at crafting likable characters and making complicated physics terms somehow completely accessible and fun. The slow burn is perfectly paced, too, which is nice. Be mindful of multiple explicit sex scenes later in the book, but if you’re okay with that then this is a quirky, smart novel perfect for a cozy weekend read.
I also finished A History of Wild Places by Shea Ernshaw, which was a deliciously atmospheric novel about a hidden commune in the mountains where two people have disappeared—an author of children’s books and the investigator (who can see people’s memories when he touches objects) who was sent to find her. It’s a tightly-written mystery that will keep you turning the pages, but I will say the climax left me dissatisfied. (Pun totally intended.) I was hoping for some magical realism but the resolution just turned out to be sort of…lame? Awkward? It felt like the author was forcing it to make sense. I’d give it three-and-a-half stars out of five, although I really wanted to give it more.
What are you reading this month? 🍂 I’m here for all the spooky (but not too disturbing) recommendations!
“Think of all the beauty still left around you, and be happy.”
—Anne Frank—