Thanksgiving 2011

I was so excited to host Thanksgiving this year at our house!! We started planning for Thanksgiving months beforehand. I called my mom to get her recipes; something I had needed to do for a while!! It was so fun to get those recipes added to my recipe collection and start the hunt to gather and collect everything I would need. I did have to make a few extra things from scratch. But overall I was able to find everything! 

Thanksgiving for me is always a time of reflection as I seek to make sure that this holiday is more than just a big meal of yummy food. I want to be in the right mindset as I am cooking and prepping for this meal. And when we sit down at the table to eat, I really do want to feel Thankful! Thankfulness is a biblical attitude because the Lord really has given us and blessed us with so many things. We as believers can be truly thankful for the Cross. Jesus Christ came to the earth and died for our sins on the Cross so that we can go to heaven. What a simple yet profound truth. And the basis for thankfulness, both on Thanksgiving and all during the year.

To cultivate this mindset, I tried to post every day for the month of November something I was thankful for. Towards the end of the month I kind of lagged in it! But it really did keep me in the right mindset during the month of November; every day I would ask myself "What are you thankful for today?!" And so many days my answer in one form or another was how thankful I was to be here in Spain! We are so blessed by the church here, our friends that we have made, the ministry that the Lord has given us, and so many more things.

Our Thanksgiving day was on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It was so fun to set the table! I brought a little fall village that I put down the center of the table.

And even found fall stickers in my sticker collection which I used to decorate everyone's place-cards

We all took turns reading a passage of Scripture or piece from American history about Thanksgiving and its real meaning

I made sure to get some pics of us and the boys

And then it was time to eat!! The food was amazing. It looked, smelled and tasted like Thanksgiving is supposed to.

Here are our guests. Kaarin, whom you can see on the left with the black sweater is a fellow American that helped me host the dinner. She planned and cooked too. Her potatoes, rolls and cranberry sauce were especially amazing! We were so blessed to have such great company!

After dinner we had pumpkin and apple pie. Complete with gingerbread lattes. We played games. The guys watched football (I think?) and the kids ran around like crazy! It was such a fun day and I am so thankful for the privilege we had to celebrate Thanksgiving here in Spain!