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This time of year, it seems like everyone gets caught up in who has to travel where, who's bringing what to dinner, who found the best Black Friday deal, when it is appropriate to start listening to Christmas music, and how many days are left until more shopping, more parties, more dinners, more presents and more family visits. Now...don't get me wrong...Drew & I are both still Christmas fanatics...we listen to Christmas music on our iPods in the car (since radio stations here don't play Christmas music), we have stockings & other Christmas decor up in our tiny apartment, we have some Christmas candy out that my parents graciously brought with them...and we actually can't wait to get home to the cold weather to celebrate the holidays in just a few short weeks! This year, however, as we celebrated Thanksgiving for the first time outside of the United States, Drew & I got the chance to stop focusing on all of those things and really just be thankful for the best parts of our lives...
-for being in a loving, supportive marriage where we can encourage one another
-for being able to live in a new country & have once-in-a-lifetime experiences
-for my parents being able to come visit & for their safe journey
-for Skype so that we could talk to Drew's wonderful family back home :)
-for all of our friends that have stood by us and remained our dear friends even though we're literally a world away
-for an incredible group of new friends that we never would have met anywhere else in the world and who have embraced us
-for our tiny little $18 Christmas tree that makes it feel a little more like home
With all of that being said...we are very thankful for all that we have been blessed with and we had some awesome celebrations this week with great friends and family.
Thanksgiving #1
The first Thanksgiving dinner we had was on Thursday (our time) and we cooked everything at home in our tiny little oven. It was the first time I had ever been in charge of cooking a whole Thanksgiving dinner, and despite some challenges, I'd have to say it was pretty much a success!
The 'staging' area :)
Starting the day off right--with a Peppermint White Mocha from Starbucks!
Then for dessert we had a hot fudge pie and a vanilla cheesecake pecan pie. Of course, we had to wash it down with some champagne (which Drew & I actually bought for our anniversary and hadn't found a good excuse to drink yet!)
After we were completely and painfully stuffed full of all the yummy food, we relaxed the rest of the afternoon before getting ready for a night on the town seeing the live version of Mary Poppins at the Civic theater downtown.
Thanksgiving #2 (aka Friendsgiving):
For our 2nd feast, we headed to our friend, Leah's, flat who was gracious enough to host a crazy bunch of Americans for Thanksgiving. We had mostly Americans, a few Kiwis and a couple Aussies thrown in for good measure :) The weather was absolutely beautiful, the food was delicious and the company was even better!
Craig, Leah's flatmate (who is a Kiwi), volunteered to tackle the turkey and stuffing for dinner and it was absolutely incredible! The stuffing had sausage and all sorts of wonderful seasoning in it. The turkey was equally as delicious and so flavorful--I'd say he'd have a future in American Thanksgivings if he ever decides to move to the States!
We also had the stuffing, mashed potatoes, two kinds of gravy, green bean casserole, cornbread casserole, pecan pie, pumpkin pie, pumpkin bars, chocolate loaf, brownies, and the classic New Zealand dessert, pavlova (also courtesy of Craig)...
There was lots of good conversation and we all had to write down anonymous things we were thankful for and then we all passed around the collection and read various ones (and tried to guess who wrote each one!)
Dad was the turkey carver!
We had such a wonderful time with family...and friends who feel like family...and I think we can all say that we're completely full on all of the Thanksgiving food until next year!
Cheers!
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