Halloween

Halloween is not celebrated in Haiti.  The kids had never heard of it.  In fact, they really looked at us funny and were really confused when we tried to explain that kids dress up and walk around and get candy.  Sounds great, though, right?  Jovanika chose to dress up as Cinderella. James chose The Hulk.  Although when anyone asked him what he was going to dress up as, his response was always "Muscles"!! Jovanika had heard about Halloween at school and I guess they talked about it in her pre-k class, so she was actually excited.  Even though I don't think she really understood what was going to happen.  When the big day finally rolled around, both of them were excited to put their costumes on.  I think they thought that was it.  Like that was Halloween. We practiced saying "trick or treat" and "thank you". They may not know much English but they sure have "trick or treat" down pat!!  So we went outside and told them we were going to go walk around to our friends houses. "I don't want to walk", says princess Jovi.  So I explained if she didn't, she wouldn't get any candy.  Yep, she changed her mind. They quickly got the hang of trick or treating and had a blast.  We had a few "incidents" that I am sure all first timers have... like one house we walked up to and the lady was holding a bowl of candy in her lap.  She handed James a piece of candy and without missing a beat, he took his other hand and reached in her bowl and grabbed a handful of candy instead!  Why would he want one piece when there was a whole entire bowl?!  That happened several times. And each time he would charm the person into saying "oh, it's ok, he can have more"... Um, thank you, but, no, it is not ok, he does not need 12 Snickers bars.  I think it's safe to say they enjoyed trick or treating.  For about a week after Halloween, they asked every day if they could go trick or treating.  And then they would look at me like I am Mean Mama for saying "no"... Obligatory Halloween pics: