Celebrating Thanksgiving

One of the nice parts about being part of an expat club is the opportunity to celebrate your own national holidays with other fellow Americans who are also living abroad. Thanksgiving is one of the big holidays that is celebrated within our American club. Although it is not nearly the same as being at home with our families seated around a table, it is nice to celebrate the American holiday over here in England with people who appreciate the occasion.

So this past Sunday we gathered with our fellow American friends in a local village hall and had an afternoon feast with all of the traditional foods - from turkey to stuffing to pumpkin treats!

The buffet of food before everyone started to eat.We are so thankful for this amazing healthy baby girl in our lives. Our little turkey Crosby was wearing her new turkey bib for the special dinner! Crosby with a few of the other American kids before the dinner started. She had so much fun just watching the other children run around the hall!

Although we are not in the US for this day tomorrow, we will still pause to reflect on everything in our lives for which we are thankful. We will actually be enjoying another Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow night with some American friends in Europe. We have many reasons and people for which we are thankful this year and we will be thinking of all of these things and people most especially tomorrow.

A Thanksgiving Surprise

While living abroad does have many benefits, sometimes it is difficult to be away from family. I probably find it most difficult because I am very close to my family. I talk to my mother daily, sometimes multiple times a day. I speak to my father and sister almost every day as well. Sometimes there is not a lot to say but it's always nice just to hear what has happened in the last day since I have spoken to them and to tell them about something mundane over here. Thank goodness for our vonage phone and skype for being able to keep in touch while living so far away! Having a US phone number over in England is confusing to some, but it does make me feel a bit closer to home.

Thanksgiving week was upon us here and Scott & I attended the American Club's Thanksgiving celebration in advance of the actual holiday. It does feel slightly uneventful here, since of course it is just not acknowledged or celebrated in England. I think my husband could tell I needed to be back with my family. He is a very good husband like that. And so he proposed that we all head back to St. Louis and surprise my parents for Thanksgiving. I think they were missing us just as much as we were missing them. And so we went back to the US and surprised them this past weekend. What a great surprise it was and how nice it was to be back home for a short while!

We were slightly delayed in arriving into St. Louis because there was SNOW falling...

The backyard with the snow starting to fall...

First, my sister Carrie arrived from Denver to surprise my parents on Thanksgiving Day. My parents then called us here in the UK, leaving a message to say we could call them since the surprise was revealed (and it was mid-day in the US at this point and I hadn't spoken to them, a bit unlike me since I speak to them daily). Little did they know at this point we were already on US soil and were awaiting our connection at O'Hare airport!

My Mom was busy finishing her Thanksgiving dinner which she thought was just going to be for her and my Dad. Luckily there was enough food since she was planning for leftovers!

And then Scott & I arrived home! We made it in time for a late Thanksgiving dinner (falling asleep shortly there after due to a long day of travel and jet lag!). It felt so nice to be home and I was very glad to have one more trip back home before this little bambino arrives in about 9 more weeks....

Virtual Holidays

Being far away from our family has gotten much easier with modern technology, most importantly with FREE technology, namely Skype. Yesterday while both sides of our family were gathered in different cities, we were able to "see" them all via computer.

Skype is great and we use it often with our parents. Yesterday on Thanksgiving we were able to skype with Scott's Grandmother too and we gave her a virtual tour of our house. My parents were with our dear family friends so we skyped with all of them as they were preparing their dinner. It's always nice to see someone in person, but skype has really made us feel a lot closer to our families while being far away. 

My Mom & Dad, Ray & Claire and Amy, all in the US, skyping with us in the UK. What amazing technology!

We are Thankful

Even though we are not close to our family and dear friends this Thanksgiving, we are still very thankful for many things. Our health, our family members' health, dear friends, food to eat, shelter, and many more blessings....but we are VERY thankful to be Americans who celebrate Thanksgiving regardless of location!  I know I've probably posted something along these lines before, but having this experience over here has been wonderful in SO many ways and we are grateful for the time here, but overall it makes us very thankful to be Americans and all of the opportunities that come with that privilege. 

It felt very strange to work today and to have things moving along as business as usual....and knowing that everyone back home was spending the morning either in their pj's watching TV with family members or was up early to get the turkey and fixings ready for company!  

The only turkey I made this season was the one below - a fabric one - attached to a bib for a friend's little girl. We will be celebrating a late Thanksgiving with their family this weekend so I thought she needed a festive bib for the meal! 

This afternoon a British lady asked me what the difference between the Thanksgiving holiday and 4th of July holiday is for Americans? An interesting question I thought since both celebrate American freedoms and beginnings in various ways. I responded with a bit about Independence Day marking the declaration of independence and Thanksgiving celebrating the country's first settler's bountiful harvest. However, when I got home tonight, I did a bit of research (since she peaked my interest in this subject) and I probably should have known more about Thanksgiving as a national holiday but I have to admit I did not pay as close of attention in history class as I should have....

In 1863, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed that Thanksgiving should be a national observance. To some degree, this was a way to brighten the spirits of the American people, who were dealing with a great deal of difficulty and deprivation.

It was a nice bit to learn (again) today and it is one holiday that does remind us about all of the blessings in our life! Happy Thanksgiving to all near and far!!

Thanksgiving Day and pumpkin pies

Today is obviously Thanksgiving Day in the U.S., and we are both are feeling a bit like the day will just pass us by because we have not seen any of the build up here toward the holiday. We celebrated turkey day early last Sunday with the American Club here which was nice so we did get to eat a bit of turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole and pie. Even though we are not celebrating the day with a big thanksgiving feast, I did my fair share of baking for the holiday last night. Two of the other American wives have discovered that I am a baker and both of them are not. So, I made 4 pumpkin pies for one family last night (Her daughter's school is having an american thanksgiving celebration in her honor) and chocolate chip pecan pie bars for the other family who will have a feast tonight.

Like a good wife, I also baked pumpkin pie bars for Scott to bring in to his co-workers today. Many of them have been asking Scott if we will have a big feast tonight and they are most interested in if we will be eating pumpkin pie. Most of them have never had pumpkin pie, and their main knowledge about pumpkin pie comes from seeing it on tv on FRIENDS. (funny) I can't wait to hear the reports on what they think of the pie....

Wishing everyone in the US a Happy Thanksgiving today! Have some turkey and stuffing for both of us!