Thanksgiving

We were privileged to host Thanksgiving again this year! I felt a lot more confident, having hosted it last year. And it was a lot less stressful; I knew which recipes I was going to make and all the places I could find the things I needed. This year's turkey was a lot easier too; it was only 8 kilos, as opposed to the 15 kilos from last year! We also picked up a roasting pan which made it easier to make gravy. The turkey turned out moist and lovely!

Jose Luis and Ita joined us, of course. It was so much fun to have them with us, especially since they had never even eaten turkey or any of the other foods before! We showed them how to eat turkey, cranberry sauce, and gravy together. They had never heard the Thanksgiving story either, so we told them that also. It made the day extra special to share our traditions with them.

We started out the meal taking turns reading various items. Some read a Psalm, Gus reads Governer William Bradford's thanksgiving proclamation and I read Lincoln's. Jose Luis, whose first language is Basque, read a Psalm for us in Basque. It is always a special time of being thankful and remember the great history behind this day.

We served up in the kitchen and I always love how the foods smell as we are serving up. It's interesting how smells are so linked to memories, isn't it? But this is one of my favorite aspects of Thanksgiving that I hope to pass along to my sons, regardless of which country we live in.

Here is our youngest guest, baby Oliver, at his first Thanksgiving! Tan, Kaarin, and their 3 boys also joined us and I am so thankful for this family! Kaarin is one of other Americans in our church and it makes it more special to spend the day with other Americans. Plus, he's pretty cute!!