Eid Week

"Eid" is the Arabic word for holiday, festival, or celebration. One of the major holidays that they have is called "Eid Al Fitir," which means celebration of breaking the fast. It's right after Ramadan. This is a special time of visiting! I was busy visiting for 4 days, which was wonderful and exhausting! But I loved it!! I didn't end up taking a lot of pictures during this time because I was working hard to speak and understand Arabic.

All of the kids were going door to door in the village asking for their "Eidiya" the gift of money (usually a coin or two). These girls showed up at my friends' house. Aren't they so cute all dressed up in their special Eid clothes? They all have a purse ready to fill with some money!

It's always fun to go visiting with other Americans! Aren't these girls so cute dressed up in their pretty dresses? It's a must for the little girls to be dressed up!

Here's a couple pictures of Joseph and Faith waiting at a door. They carried a little purse with them and loved filling it with all the coins!

As I was leaving one visit, I took this picture of their garden! So pretty!

Lots of my friends were preparing to travel during Eid for a few days or a week. Some of them were in this bus in our village that left for Saudi Arabia the first day of Eid.

We got to visit some friends from our previous village! It was great to be able to catch up with them! They loved hearing Joseph and Faith speak Arabic!

I hosted a couple of visits too! I took this picture before a group of ladies came over. Once they were there, I got so busy that I didn't get a chance to take any more pictures.

I tried to host the way that they do by putting out snacks, fruit, sweets, and nuts. I even put out a couple of traditional sweets called Halwa. Of course I made tea too, that's a must!

Here's a picture of Faith and Joseph on another Eid visit! I think they had as much fun as I did! I love to see my kids enjoying this culture so much!

As we prepared for another visit, I got out the incense.

I prepared tea and put it in this traditional looking thermos/pitcher. It's called a Della.

Joseph was such a host! It was really funny to watch him bring the food around to the ladies. He offered it to them in such an Arab way. Obviously, he's been quite observant on our visits!

One friend brought these dates from her farm!

In the middle of all the Eid visits a friend of a friend got married! I love weddings and I love going to weddings with my friends! 

We also got to hang out with Aunt Melissa at her house. Faith and Joseph love playing with her cats!

We even went to this movie as a family! Faith was soooo excited about this movie and she had been waiting a long time to see it. Her preschool class last year was called "The Smurf Class" so, naturally, she loves the Smurfs!