Halloween as an Expat

Halloween as an Expat

My eldest daughter has her 21st birthday this week. We always did something Halloween based when she was small. I remember sending her to preschool with homemade Halloween sugar cookies. The platter was nearly as big as she was (I tend to overdue things) and covered with pumpkin shaped cookies, beautifully decorated, with orange and green icing, m&m’s creating the face. My mouth just waters thinking about them and how much effort we put into baking them.

I went to pick her up at the end of the school day, and there she stood with nearly the same amount of cookies, uneaten, untouched, on her platter. She was very upset. You see, the kids thought these colorful, delicious cookies were strange; they were orange and green. They did not want to eat the unknown.

Just this week I was with friends who were talking about setting up a trick or treating route. It was no surprise to me as I listened to them that they have been running into some problems. I thought back to my first days in Europe and how I wanted to recreate every holiday one to one. You can’t! You should still enjoy your holiday, and believe me I do, but just let go of the idea that it will be the same and embrace the novelty of doing it somewhere else. If possible share your culture, never forgetting to embrace and respect the culture of your host country.

P.S. Later in life my daughter's friends came to love my sugar cookies. They got past the color issue, grew up and dared try them. I am actually kind of famous for my cookies.