Being Thankful--With or Without the Pilgrims!

 Well we couldn't very well just ignore the Thanksgiving holiday altogether...not with all the blessings we've been given this year!  When Sydney asked why they didn't get Thanksgiving off from school, I told her they don't celebrate Thanksgiving here.  She said, "Well that's weird.  They're just not thankful?"  Parker promptly told her, "Syd there were no pilgrims here.  Plymouth rock...not the Gold Coast, remember?"  I thought it was a decent explanation, but truly felt sad to not have a recognized holiday.  What to do???

We didn't have to fret long.  Apparently the ex-pats here in our ward have a huge Thanksgiving dinner the weekend of Thanksgiving in the states.  All Americans are invited and we included Canadians as well.  We offered to host at our house this year so the kids could enjoy the pool and we seemed to have the biggest space for eating.  Most of the families live in apartments or small homes.  While ours is not huge, it does have an awesome outdoor space that worked great for the long tables.  We had an ENORMOUS feast.  There was probably around 40 people there and the food assignments went great.  Homeade roles, turkey, stuffing, salads and oodles of pies.  But my favorite part was the tradition the Americans have here of bringing a little home to the party.  You'll notice in the pic a huge yellow cooler in the back.  It's homeade rootbeer!  It's very difficult to find rootbeer here and if you do, you'll pay out the nose for it.  Every Thanksgiving a member of our stake presidency, President Adams and his family, make homeade rootbeer for the ex-pat Thanksgiving.  Someone also makes rice crispy treats to be set out with the pies for dessert and of course...rootbeer floats!  I told Lex, I think homeade rootbeer and rice crispy treats just became a new Allen family Thanksgiving tradition as well.  It will remind us of our year in Brisby but also it will remind us to always be thankful for the little things.  Things we take for granted-- ya know, like root beer and marshmallows!

It was such a fun day.  It was awesome visiting with other ex-pats and remembering things about home.  What Thanksgivings were like for them then and now and the things they miss most about the states.  We laughed a lot about the adjustments you have to make when moving internationally and the awesome things you learn about yourself.  It was a special Thanksgiving...it made me feel truly thankful for friends and ward family.