Dame Chavo no Mani

We celebrated Halloween in Puerto Rico this year. It was odd really because we have been in Indiana for the last 2 Halloweens. The night just didn't seem right without my parents, cool weather and tree lined streets. We had a good time here though. The kids actually got to celebrate twice. Once on Halloween night here in the neighborhood and once the next night at the ward Halloween party. First, however, I had to procure some pumpkins. Sounds like an easy task right? Well here in PR it's not as easy as you might think. Luckily, my friend Heather was willing to take me to the commisary on the local Army base to get one. My original plan was to buy 3 pumpkins. Well that plan was shot when I saw that the pumpkins were $6 each and ginormous. So we decided to go with just one pumpkin. The kids decided that they wanted to paint the pumpkin so we divided it in half and they went to it. Poor Carter was napping and missed out this year.

For some reason I didn't get an after picture.

After the pumpkin painting project we moved on to decorating cupcakes for the ward Halloween party that was happening on Saturday. The kids had a good time designing and eating their creations.

Friday night it was time to trick or treat. We met up with friends around 6:15. Daddy made it home with 5 minutes to spare, and we took off with a gaggle of kids and parents to take over the neighborhood. Most houses weren't participating yet. 6:30 is so early here. The Puerto Ricans didn't get going until around 9:00. It was pure pandemonium but the kids had a great time. Carter caught on quickly and did a great job staying close to use and saying "Gracias" after getting his candy. Our Puerto Rican neighbors were very generous handing out handfulls of candy at a time. We had to unload the kids' pumpkins twice before we got home as they were getting "too heavy".

We got home just shy of 8:00 and the candy inspection began. First we removed all of the nut products so Allison wouldn't get one accidently, and then dumped it all into one big pile on the center of the table. The kids each ate a few pieces and that was pretty much it. They just don't get that excited about the candy. They were whipped so they got to bed by 8:30. Everyone fell asleep quickly and missed out on the party brewing outside. Around 9:00 we heard a chant that became quite familiar as the night went on. Here in PR they clap outside the door and sing this phrase:

Halloween Trick or Treat
Halloween Trick or Treat
Dame chavo, no mani
No te escondas, ya te vi
En la casa del coqui

We ran out of candy in a nano-second and had to turn out the light. The nieghborhood had a little party for the kids but I don't think it started until after my kids were in bed so we missed that. It was really a great night and good experience for all of us.