Monday, October 31, 2011

Missionary Kid Monday: The Hardest Thing

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!
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9 comments:

  1. Amanda WoodOctober 31, 2011 at 7:01 AM

    Um, I want KinderEier. I miss them. We were able to buy them in my German class in high school. I love those things. Chupa Chups are amazing. I got those when I'd go to a dance competition. I'd use all my tickets from the game room to get candy :). Also Haribo raspberries and blackberries are amazing.

    But my favorite all time candy is dark chocolate. I'll take that over anything else thank you very much :) Great post!

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  2. Beth @ The Goad AbodeOctober 31, 2011 at 7:14 AM

    I love Kinder eggs!

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  3. Mandy CrandellOctober 31, 2011 at 8:20 AM

    You poor thing! Life without Halloween is a tragedy! Haha. I lived out in the country growing up, so trick-or-treating was never a big thing. We always had candy, though.

    http://mandycrandell.blogspot.com/
    http://twitter.com/#!/MandyCrandell

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  4. MeelingOctober 31, 2011 at 8:45 AM

    Reeses hands down are my favorite!!

    I love Kinder eggs too...we had those growing up in Canada. I still miss some of the good British candy bars that we had growing up...they are near to impossible to find in California.

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  5. MeganOctober 31, 2011 at 9:11 AM

    goodness!! I never went trick-or-treating much when I was little. We always bought a small bag of assorted treats (or homemade cookies!) and stayed home for a movie marathon.
    But I couldn't imagine living somewhere where there is no halloween!! How spooky! ;)

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  6. christaOctober 31, 2011 at 9:57 AM

    I love Milk-Duds. And Mary Janes. And Milky Ways. I'm addicted to chocolate!

    I do miss Charms candy from Italy every once and a while. And I love Haribo gummy bears!

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  7. KatieOctober 31, 2011 at 10:16 AM

    I never knew they didn't celebrate Halloween....

    I love s'mores! We will be having s'mores on a sitck tonight!

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  8. AnnetteOctober 31, 2011 at 2:43 PM

    For a kid not able to go trick or treating, it's the end of the world! It would be the end of the world for me if I couldn't ever have milk chocolate again!!

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  9. thepaisleytabNovember 1, 2011 at 12:46 PM

    Oh my word! You lived in France? Lucky you! :) I love that country! Do you speak French too?

    ....To answer your question....I crave peanut butter cups....ALWAYS! :)

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