Holidays

      Holidays were drastically different in Geneva, Switzerland. Halloween was not celebrated there. Instead of going trick or treating my brother and I went to my dad’s work where they had a truck or treat Halloween party. Every family would decorate the truck of their car and the person with the best truck would win a prize. Same goes with the kids costumes, whoever had the best costumes would win a prize. One year my brother dressed up as Rick O’Connell from the movie The Mummy, and I went as a mummy, while my mother made an Egyptian theme out of the truck. We of course won both the costume and truck prizes, which were gift cards.  

 

     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

      Walking downtown with trees all lit up, snow on the ground, and shops with festive lights strung all along the siding. Christmas was a huge deal in Switzerland, just like here in American. There really isn’t any difference in the way Christmas was celebrated in Geneva. Christmas was my favorite time of the year. My family and I would always go back home during the holiday to see our family. The plane ride over to America was over 10 hours, and we usually had to get connecting flights which made the journey back to America even longer. Once our trip back to America was over and we had to go home we always had to bring food back that wasn’t in the stores in Geneva. We always brought home pop tarts and Kellogg's cereals because they didn’t have these foods in Europe and my brother and I loved them. Once we got back from America we would always get a second Christmas cause my parents could never take all the presents they bought us to America. They use to tell us that Santa knew we wouldn’t have enough room in our luggage to take to back home so he left us some presents back at our house. Now that I’m older I understand that my parents didn’t want to pay more money for another bag of toys. After we got back we would always build a snowman. One year we made a snowman with hair and that was my favorite snowman. 

​

     

 

 

 

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

      Easter was celebrated heavily in Europe as many Europeans are Catholic. My family and I always traveled during our spring break which was over Easter. My most memorable memory was traveling to Italy and seeing all the chocolate eggs and bunnies in the windows of every shop we walked past. Of course in Geneva they would have chocolate eggs and bunnies but not to the extreme they had in Italy. When we celebrated Easter at our house in Geneva every shop would be closed because of the holiday. Shops were actually closed on every Sunday because it was the Lord’s Day, so it was no different on Easter Sunday. Easter egg hunts are a big part of American’s way to celebrate the holiday. My brother and I would go to my dad’s work again, and they held a Easter egg hunt for all the little kids. After the hunt they would read us books about the Easter Bunny.