Thursday, October 7, 2010

What about the holidays?

Struggle # 546 When marrying a foreigner that is from a different religion and different culture do not attempt to celebrate holidays.

New little eye opener... this will be the second Halloween (or even holiday season for the egyptian.) I told him back in August, "I am sooo excited about Halloween this year. We did not celebrate it properly last year because we were dealing with immigration. But this year - we will do it right, with Haunted Houses, costumes, head to a Halloween party.. maybe throw one - it will be fun!" I remember very distinctly he shook his head and smiled.

Though.. how often do people who speak english as a  second language shake their head and smile when they are clueless about what you are talking about???

Then, on Monday night, I said, "Why don't we throw a small little Halloween party?" (see I was known for throwing KILLER Halloween parties back in Georgia.) He replied, "No, Nicole." I asked, "Why not? Give me one good reason."

"Your holidays mean nothing to me."

Ouch.

True... but...

A little effort, maybe?

I decided to have a photo parade of Halloweens gone by. It's therapeutic, you see.

Me at the age of 3ish. My mommy made me scary!

Totally digging the homemade costume with the funky curtains and is that incense boxes in the wall???

What you can't see is the makeup is glow in the dark. We went to a club that night and I was scary as hell! Best vampire teeth to date! (Think the Theatrical Vampires in Interview with a Vampire.)

Some friends at a Halloween Party at the 'Transmitter' thrown by my TV crowd

At my house a couple of years ago! My best friend Telisa and her daughter Peyton.

Again, another party at my house - Telisa again.

Last BIG party I threw. There were almost 100 people there. You can kind of see the decorations.

Transmitter party

An attempt at a Halloween party (last one I threw) when I lived with Kelli. It's hard to see how eery it was - b/c the flash makes it light! PS - I'm a gypsy

My parents - Dad came as Juan Valdez. LOL

Again  - you can kind of see the decor.

My late friend Michael, as a Dominatrix LOL

Dad and I carving Pumpkins and drinking red wine.

Mom (very pregnant) and getting ready to take me trick or treating!

My sister and I in our homemade costumes
Me - last year.

I LOVE Face in the Hole. LOL

Dad and I at a church Halloween Party.

What are your fondest memories of Halloween? And how would you suggest I introduce the holidays to someone who does not "get it" and is not necessarily "into" it?

8 comments:

scrapwordsmom said...

I love Halloween, too!! I have always wanted to go to a BIG party and dress up really cool...but that has never happened.

I used to watch the Rocky Horror Picture Show in College with friends. We'd dress up and do all the Rocky Horror stuff.

Your costumes are great, btw!

Anonymous said...

I love Halloween and your pirate costume is awesome!!! LOVE IT!

Laura said...

I love all the photos and the great costumes! Halloween is definitely a holiday that you should continue to celebrate, whether or not others "get it". I'm sorry that I don't have any suggestions to help in that effort, other than to say that there are things we all do in life that we may not like or don't quite understand, but we do it because of the people we love. Heck, I've lost count of the number of hours I've spent watching Sci-Fi or James Bond movies, but I do it because I recognize how important they are to my husband, and how happy it makes him feel when I sit and watch these movies with him. So, what is your costume this year?

Nicole said...

Laura, Great question. Due to budget constraints, I may pull out the gypsy (it's been 3 years.) However, I really like the Geisha costumes (if I had an extra $75 this year. ;-) )

Anonymous said...

I hope you still have a chance to properly celebrate. I could never cut Halloween out of my life. LOVE IT!

Leanne said...

Hey dear friend, I read this one a couple days ago when you wrote it, but didn't have time to comment, so I'm back for catch up. After looking at these awesome photos of you and seeing how much you love this holiday, it makes me a little said to hear what our beloved Mr. E said. I would love to sit down with him and talk to him about what you do when something is important to someone you love. I'm hoping that he will come around, because the thought of you NOT celebrating Halloween to the fullest makes me kind of sad. Thinking of you!

Nicole said...

Thank you Leanne.. I just saw that comment! Yeah.. I figured out my revenge. hee hee - some friends are coming for a visit - peer pressure to a REALLY scary haunted house... muwahahahaa

Yenta Mary said...

Whether your holidays mean anything to him is not the issue; whether YOU mean anything to him is. Tom isn't Jewish, knows very little about Judaism; but he ate hamantaschen at Purim, came to Rosh Hashanah services with me (even wore a tie for the second time in our lives together!), and tries to keep all the foreign information straight. He knows he'll be eating latkes for the first night of Chanukkah. He TRIES, like the angel told us to do.

Compare Hallowe'en to Carnavale without the the alcohol, so it's only fun and food rather than bawdiness. It's a celebration, just a chance to have fun and be creative.

If the Egyptian is going to live here and -- especially -- live with YOU, then he has a choice: be a part of things and embrace new experiences, or cloister himself while longing for the isolation and insulation of familiarity. He may think Hallowe'en is frivolous and greedy; but how can he really know what it is until he experiences it ...?

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