Turkey Day!

Just a week after we returned, it was time for Thanksgiving. The cool thing about traveling to America right before Thanksgiving was that it meant we could bring back some typical Thanksgiving items (like canned pumpkin, pecans and mini marshmallows) that are pretty hard--or very expensive--for us to get around here. We had several families join us for the day, and we had a great time eating, relaxing, and watching the news. Yes, the news. Since we're half a day ahead of American time, it was too early for football. And besides, there was more excitement in the streets that week, so we needed to keep tabs on what was going on in other parts of the city. 

Here's some of our delicious feast. Funny story about the turkey: Our friend called about a week before Thanksgiving to say that he had seen a butcher near his house selling turkeys. Since they can be really hard to find, he offered to buy it for us, and then Jason arranged to meet him and pick it up the day before Thanksgiving so that I could cook it before lunch on Thursday. I've never cooked a turkey, but I read up on it all that week and was ready to try it.

Then, on Wednesday afternoon, Jason got another call from our friend. As scheduled, he had gone by to pick up the turkey that afternoon, but when he got there, there was a little surprise. The turkey was already cooked! Apparently there was a bit of Arabic miscommunication (it happens from time to time!), and the butcher thought we wanted it cooked, so they had taken it to a nearby restaurant and borrowed their oven for a few hours! Thankfully, it was delicious, and it made Thanksgiving Day even easier for me!  

Lee Anna had fun overseeing the creation of our "Thanksgiving tree". The kids cut out the leaves, and then on each one we listed something we were thankful for. When our friends arrived, they also helped us add to the tree. I took the pic below the next morning before we took it down. Next year (assuming we're not traveling all month), we'll do this all month long.

The kids also did a cute little Build-a-Turkey craft after we ate. Another mom had printed and cut out all the Mr.-Potato-Head style pieces, and the kids got to choose which ones they wanted for their turkeys. They loved it!

We sat around and visited, laughed a lot, sang together, and thoroughly enjoyed having a day to reflect on all that we have to be thankful for.