This is HALLOWEEN! Year Two...

Happy Super Belated Halloween Everyone!!

Well, it's our second year living abroad during our very favorite holiday (it might even eclipse Christmas), and it's always an experience!  As other countries do not seem to embrace the pursuit of heaps of sugary goodness the way Americans do, our school had it's own Halloween event the Friday before Halloween, called Trick or Trunk! Wait...it may have been Trunk or Treat!  Yes, that's it!  This is an event where all the parents meet in the parking lot of the school, pop the trunk, and festoon our vehicles with as much Halloween flair as they can handle. The kids then just go trunk-to-trunk to collect their goodies.  Above is the Walker's jolly welcome .  We went for a slightly more spooky effect:

This is an interesting event.  In order to prevent tragic sugar fuelled traffic accidents, all the children MUST stay in the vehicles until precisely 7pm, when an air horn announces the official start of the event.  Now, there is nothing kids like more than knowing that pounds of delicious candy await while they are trapped on the inside of a stationary vehicle.  It's OK.  The screaming and whining just added to the spooky ambiance.  At 7pm- it's GO time. Here's the California Gang (plus G's friend Kate sporting some Hermione Hair):



And here's C's cast of characters - the Zombie Cheerleader (Anna) and the Angel/Devil (Michelle) are Caroline's two best buddies at school:

My Viking Warrior and her Kitty:

And for those of you that are keeping track - this is in fact the third year in a row that Georgia has chosen a costume that involves feathers and sequins, reminiscent of  a Vegas show girl.  I seriously fear for the costumes of tomorrow. 

The benefit of trick or trunking?  It's speedy.  No pesky doorbell ringing.  No long driveways.  No waiting for people to pause the TV and answer the door.  Heck, you really don't even have to say Trick or Treat.  The result?  In 30 minutes of trunk or treating, here's what they collected:

For future reference, if you are living abroad and want to be insanely popular, stock up on "American Candy".  Note the absence of all things familiar - M&Ms, Snickers, Reeces - they must have a heavy import tax, because we mainly got Haribo gummies. 

On the actual day of Halloween, we went in search of Trick or Treating, but alas, this tradition has not made it's way to England yet.  Or at least, not in our area.  So, we carved pumpkins at home: 

The finished results:



But the Best of Halloween 2011 Award goes to our neighbors.  They are a British/Bulgarian family with two girls ages 10 and 11.  At about 9:30 pm, our gate bell rings.  On the intercom we can see our neighbors, the girls both dressed in full old lady hag costume (like the old lady in Snow White), clutching giant, totally empty pillowcases.  We let them in and the kids race off to get the candy.  Real trick-or-treaters!  Hooray!  We fling open the door, and the girls hold out the candy bucket.  And that's when (record scratching) the whole game changes.

 "Wait Wait!" says Yulia (the mom) "There is a show!"  A show?  We're not accustomed to Halloween shows, but sure!  Awesome!  A Halloween show!  Yulia then dons a feathered and jeweled Mardi Gras mask and whips out her iPhone.  The girls turn on flashlights and hold them under their chins, illuminating their over sized witch masks.  Simon (Dad) grins goofily wearing his Crocodile Dundee hat (I don't think this was a costume).  Holding the iPhone over her head and swaying it back and forth like she's at a concert, Yulia cues the "spooky music".  The girls then enact a skit where they cast curses on each other (reason unclear - it was hard to hear under the masks).  "Woooo Eeeee OOOOOOOOO" sings Yulia, swaying with her iPhone above her head, mardi gras feathers bobbing.Simon grins and bobs his head to Yulia's music.   "Hehehehehehehe" witch cackle our young witch neighbors.   "HAPPY HALLOWEEN!" They all yell in unison, and present our girls with giant, beautiful chocolate pumpkins. 

The best part?  I think they put the whole show together because they had American neighbors and they know that we love Halloween.  These are the moments living abroad that I cherish most of all.