Without question, the hardest thing for me as a child when we were living in France came around on October 31st.
Because the French don't celebrate Halloween*.
I already had a few Halloweens in California under my belt so I knew EXACTLY what I was missing. (My mom dressed me up as Marilyn Monroe when I was five - complete with a blonde wig!) And my sweet tooth protested.
Sure, my mom had actually packed and brought our Halloween decorations (!!!) so the house felt festive. But..... the candy was missing.
And even if we could have gone trick-or-treating at the neighbors' houses, we would have gotten French candy.
There's nothing wrong with French candy.
But my
grass-is-greener cravings started young: when I was in France, I CRAVED American candy that you couldn't get (at the time) in France. The good stuff like Reeses, Oreos, Butterfingers, Twizzlers, Laffy Taffy, Starbursts, and Hershey's. And when I was in America, I would crave French candy like
Haribo,
Carambar, and
Kinder eggs.
Between the ages of 7 and 11, my dad kept a bowl of loose change by the door ("centimes" back when the French franc was the unit of currency). Us kids were allowed to help ourselves on the way out the door as we walked the quarter mile to school. And do you know what was on my path to school? A
boulangerie (bakery). With bins of candy. And it only cost
centimes to buy a small handful!
It's a miracle I'm not enormous!
All this to say that even with the availability of fine French
bon-bons, I surely felt like I was indeed
SUFFERING FOR THE LORD every October 31st.
The first time we flew back to California after living for four straight years in France, my family and I walked into a CVS. There, right in front of my face, was alllllllll that American candy I had been craving for so long. I may have even teared up between all of that jumping up and down!
So... is there any candy you're addicted to?
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*It's starting to catch on a tiny bit over there. But it's by and large an American tradition!
