Halloween in the Middle East

Last Wednesday before the kids went to preschool, Joseph announced, "Today is Halloween and we need to dress up!" I'm not sure where he got the idea that it's Halloween since it's not a public holiday. Stores don't have decorations. Only a few restaurants are decorated. I know his friends at preschool don't talk about it, they don't know what it is.

So, we found a couple of costumes that we have and pretended like we were in America, dressing up for Halloween. Joseph was Spiderman and Faith was princess Reepunzel (as she calls her).

Joseph has a take charge mentality so we let him tell us what we should do. Tim and I had some input too. He wanted to take his picture like this and he added, "Spiderman doesn't wear shoes!"

They had no idea that you're supposed to get candy for Halloween, that's why they're not holding candy bags. Joseph had to have his stuffed dog in his picture, so Faith wanted her baby doll in her picture.

We went to the most American place we could think of, Chili's, for dinner. As we walked outside, I had to take a picture of them in their costumes at night...it almost looks like Halloween, doesn't it?!?















It's times like these when I start to feel sad for my kids. I wonder if they're missing out by not living in America. I even said to Tim later that night, "That sure didn't feel like Halloween." But, I know that my kids are right where God wants them to be...with us in the Middle East. My kids were happy with their Halloween experience, they weren't complaining at all.

What I didn't know was that God was going to bless me a couple days later. On Friday evening I got a text from one of my friends in our village. She said that the kids are out in the village going house to house to get candy, just like they do for Garga'oon! I was SHOCKED! I knew that my friends were going to celebrate a holiday over the weekend, but I didn't know that they would do this!

 (I found this picture online...a traditional Garga'oon scene)

So the kids grabbed their treat bags and we went to the village. I didn't get great pictures.


















Here's a picture of us on the street in the village. I couldn't take any pictures with the crowds of people, so you'll just have to imagine that there were lots of people out!

Joseph was elated! He declared, "This is the best day EVER!" he loved going to each house, knocking on the door and getting candy in his bag!

It blessed my heart to see him so happy! It was a fun night. It was our own little Halloween!

Once we got home the kids started sorting through their candy, nuts, and bags of chips. They also scored some money...several homes were giving money along with their treats!

I took this picture of the scene on a gift bag that one friend gave us full of treats. Doesn't it look a lot like Halloween?

I will treasure this memory! It was such a blessing! Our own version of Halloween in the Middle East!