With Halloween decorations having been out on the store shelves for months, it’s just around the corner and I’m sure there are signs of it where you live. My family never celebrated Halloween (maybe some year I’ll dive into why), but when I was young, I just knew a lot of things were made up. 

I was at a VBS in the area (I was probably 10 or so), and I was with a friend at the time, Logan. She and I were sitting during snacktime outside of the church on the picnic benches, facing a group of boys. Of course, we somehow got into the conversation of things that were made up, and Logan and I were going to show those boys that we knew what we were talking about. Well, I was…Logan just backed me up. Here’s how that conversation went:

“Santa Claus isn’t real!” I said.

“Yeah!” Logan emphasized. 

The boys guffawed.

“The Easter Bunny isn’t real!” I said. 

“Yeah!” Logan emphasized. 

The boys snorted.

“The Tooth Fairy isn’t real!” I said. 

“Yeah!” Logan emphasized. 

The boys rolled their eyes.

(Do you see the theme, yet?)

“Skeletons aren’t real!” I said. 

“Yeah!” Logan emphasized. Pause. “Wait…what?”

The boys started chuckling.

When Logan turned to look at me, I was wondering what her problem was. So she agrees that Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny aren’t real…but she thinks those skeletons that pop up around Halloween are? What was her problem? And she’s really going to side with the boys who are adamant that skeletons exist? Hello? What side was she on?

“Skeletons aren’t real.” I said matter-of-factly. Someone had to educate this poor child. 

“But…they are.” Logan said, confused. 

“No, they’re not.” I said. If you’ve read The Hardest Thing I’ve Ever Done, you’ll know that I was determined my Sunday School teacher was wrong when she said Cana. I was quite stubborn when I was younger, and very adamant when I just knew people were wrong…I wasn’t going to drop it. 

“But…they’re inside of us.” Logan said slowly. 

“Well not those,” I said exasperatedly. “The ones in the yards! Those aren’t real. Skeletons aren’t real.” Boy, she could be kinda dumb sometimes. The plastic skeletons that talk and are meant to scare you, aren’t real (duh), but evil is very real and we shouldn’t be playing with such things. I just couldn’t word it as eloquently as my parents would have.

I did, in fact, learn that skeletons do exist inside of us (my parents must’ve been mortified when I told them what occurred when they picked me up that night). I’ll blame it on being college-educated…how was I supposed to know that yes, skeletons exist, but the ones in the yards aren’t real. I was still right – I was talking about the lawn decorations.

It was also that same VBS where the snack people decided to put an orange gummy basketball in my chocolate pudding cup, and I was thoroughly disgusted after trying it (also known as a nasketball…a nasty basketball). I told Logan it was gross, and without tasting it, she threw hers away. She probably shouldn’t have trusted everything I said.

Just remember, as Halloween draws nearer…skeletons aren’t real. And you should probably test what your friends say. 

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