I hope this has been a day of great thanksgiving from east to west and north to south in all of America. I know from the Americans living in England, we did our share of eating and thanks giving and with the six hour time difference, I guessed we were all celebrating at the same time—us at supper time, you at lunch time. Pretty cool, don’t you think?
I was so proud that I had all my ingredients bought last night, eager to get up this morning and smell the smells of home cooking. However, I opened the refrigerator to get the eggs for the cake and discovered the eggs had never been bought. SO…off to the market. Here’s where a car comes in really handy. Oh well, umbrella up and off I went---walking. Also, I noticed that I had no measuring spoons or measuring cups. Now, that works well if you’re Mamaw Jo or Willie Jess, but for me, I NEED to measure. Those items are not usually in the grocery store so I was a little concerned, but I did find a large one that measures liters. I decided to make do and Google the conversion to cups and half cups. Soon, the smell of chocolate cake filled our little flat and it felt like a holiday. Except, I was sniffing all alone—not a normal holiday, for sure. Ryan and 2 Papa had gone on a tour and wouldn’t return until 4:00 so it was pretty quiet. I was able to do some computer work between cooking, but basically I just figured out how to mash sweet potatoes with no mixer or masher thing, measure milk, oil and water with liters, cook in an oven that is in centigrade and figure out how to get five hot dishes of food in a taxi. Korie did bless me with a Sykpe call so that was fantastic!!
Ryan and 2 Papa arrived home on schedule and had had a great time. I asked them if the tour guide got to talk at all, knowing the two of them can say several, like a million, words themselves. They both said they listened to the tour guide and learned a lot. Good job guys! They went to an outdoor flea market and Ryan ate a pig sandwich from a whole pig being cooked right in front of them. 2 Papa keeps saying they took the meat from the snout, Ryan denies it. You be the judge.
Once the sweet potato casserole heated up, it really smelled like Thanksgiving and it was time to go to Justin and Sherry’s house. Ryan brought Thanksgiving paper goods (not found anywhere here) which I gave to Sherry yesterday and the tables looked so cute. Sherry had moved things around in her small living room so we were all seated around two tables. In total, we had fourteen—two other Americans, besides Sherry’s family, and one British family. See photo above. It really was as perfect as you could get without being home. Justin made turkey and dressing that was truly as good as any I’ve ever had and all the other food was fantastic too. No one had ever had a sweet potato casserole and everyone loved it. You can’t go wrong with butter, brown sugar, and pecans. Right?
After dinner, it was time for the Duck Commander Thanksgiving show. We put on episode eight, which was the Christmas episode and the episode where Phil talks about men who wear a piece of cloth tied around their neck in the name of fashion. We all looked at our British friend, a very proper Engineering professor, still dressed in his suit and tie. whew! He was laughing just like the rest of us were. They all loved it and laughed and laughed at the crazy southerners who hunt ducks for a living. Korie had sent t-shirts and hats for the kids and they were thrilled. It was such fun! But, it made me more homesick to see all the faces of our family and friends. They all looked so cute---even Willie Jess!
Well, that was our day. Not a typical Thanksgiving, but still great as we shared it with new friends. Johnny even read some of his famous Laffy-Taffy jokes about Thanksgiving. The jokes may have actually gone over better here than they do at home.
I don’t know about your celebration, but we went around the room and shared something we are thankful for. Of course, family was on the top of my list and then our new friends. Others said having a car (I agree with that one for sure), their friends, their children, new opportunities, plenty of food and so on. Yes, we are blessed.
“God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you're ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done.” 2 Corinthians 9:8
Now, enjoy your turkey sandwich.
Love you all.
Hugs, 2 Mama