Halloweens past and present

For the last few years, our home in Eagle was "base" for friends who joined us for trick-or-treating. We would cook hot soups-- my favorite was always Tiff's cheeseburger soup, which I have now mastered and shared here in Amman.  We then of course took lots of pictures of our kiddos, and headed out to trick-or-treat in the neighborhood.  We lived in one of the best neighborhoods to trick-or-treat! Kids filled the streets, houses were decorated, and the kiddos came home with enough candy to last them until Christmas.

I loved Halloween. I mean, I could do without some aspects (eventhough I don't buy into the nonsense about the so called 'meaning').  What I love is the gathering of friends, kids in costumes letting their imaginations run wild, laughter filling the streets, and who doesn't love candy? Ha!  Don't pretend like your kids eat it all themselves!!

Although, I miss our traditions, it's always fun to start new ones. This year, my boss (who lives in our building and is a fantastic person!) took us over to the Brit Club (@ the British Embassy).  I guess first I should mention that prior to Halloween, Hailee had a book character day at school, right before the Eid holiday.  She was supposed to dress up as her favorite book character, so she picked Hermoine from Harry Potter.  When, I showed up at work that day, what I saw was Halloween. Call it what you want, but primary students were dressed up in costumes, I guess you could say that all those characters were in a book somewhere, but honestly, it didn't look much different than the Halloween parades I watched at Red Hill Elementary.  It was fan-tas-tic!!

Back to Halloween night. So, Martin (my boss) took us over to the Brit club.  They were hosting a Halloween party for kids- games, candy, dancing.. the girls had a great time.  The games included pin the eyes on the skeleton, bobbing for apples, and doughnut on a string.  Now, those of you that know Hailee know that she is pretty competitive-- seems to be a Nelson family gene! This competiveness and desire to always push herself applies to most areas of her life including of course, bobbing for apples.  I actually stopped her twice to see if she was okay because she was soaking wet and sucking air, but she was determined to get all of those apples! She didn't stop until she got them all- 6 in total, I believe. The doughnut game was quite comical as you can see from the pictures.  We literally could not stop laughing :)


Charlee was not much into the games, settling on only one. When we first arrived, she headed straight fort the pool because what better way to celebrate Halloween then going for a swim? She enjoyed playing in the play area and soccer field until she heard music, and then she and her sister danced the night away! Oh, and I must mention that Charlee picked out her costume. I was happy she picked out items that totaled less that 5 JD, because the Halloween costumes we looked at at Hamley's were upwards of 50 JD. She spent the night saying, "Argghhh, pirate!" Next time you see Charlee, you must ask her what a pirate says for a good laugh!

The girls had a fun-filled night. We feel fortunate to work with people who are so welcoming and who are so willing to extend so much of themselves to help ensure we are able to settle into our new life as expats. Thank you.