Thanksgiving and Other Bits of Stuff-ing

THE BITS

It's holiday season! As I was walking home from school the middle of October I noticed that the city was starting to hang Christmas lights. I just had to get a photo. There are a lot more lights around the city now but have yet to take more photos.

Kat took me to the Angel Food Cupcakery for my birthday. This place had the most delicious cupcakes and the frosting...oh the frosting. I WILL be going there again - soon. Thanks Kat!

Mom and dad sent me a package for my birthday complete with Pero and chocolate licorice - both my favorite. Thanks mom and dad! Eric took me to see a movie at the Marina Cinema that night. Pretty low key but that's how I like 'em.

THE TURKEY

Thanksgiving night we attended the ISS (International Student Society) Thanksgiving dinner at Moksha. Olie cooked for us all and he did an excellent job. Eric got his fill of turkey and I got my pumpkin pie. They had everything a proper turkey dinner would consist of. The guests at our table asked us all about Thanksgiving since it was their first one (they are from Poland, Sweden, Slovakia, and Iran). All they know about Thanksgiving is what they've seen from American TV shows like Friends. Everyone knows and loves Friends here. They asked if we really go around the table and say what we are thankful for and wanted to do it! It was so funny. And they asked if we say a prayer before eating the dinner. We said yes, we do and they wanted to say a prayer as well. We held hands around our little table and Eric said grace.

Since the dinner was at Moksha, and Lotta is the pres. of ISS she was of course there.

We were all given Christmas crackers (not the food) and opened them before dinner. I got a bouncy ball, Eric got a wire puzzle, and others got a card game, palm reading cards, paper clip, and nail clippers. It's really popular to have these crackers at holiday parties. They are a hoot to open and see what silly prize you get. They also all come with a paper crown and a joke.

Here are the boys trying to figure out how to put together their cracker puzzle.

(how many Master's educated men does it take to put together a child's puzzle?)

Answer: 3.5

(They had to get help from the girls - and had to take a photo of their accomplishment.)

A very popular thing to do around these parts (England in general) is to have quizzes. They have pub quizzes at the pubs, quizzes at parties - any gathering really. So for this particular night they had, surprise, a Thanksgiving quiz!

This guy is the "Quiz Master"

(Side Note: note he's dressed festively as a Native American. Well, earlier he said he was dressing up as an Indian, and a few people from India gave him a really odd look and said "What do Indian's have to do with Thanksgiving?" He had to correct himself and say "Native American". They still didn't get it. )

We didn't get many photos of our Thanksgivings because, frankly, if Eric doesn't have the camera there really are no photos of anything.

Anyway, that was Thanksgiving night. It was probably one of the most fun nights we've had since being here. We made new friends and learned about holiday customs from other countries. I just love a good learning experience.

 On Saturday we were invited over for another dinner at a fellow American family's home. They are in our ward and here in Brighton for his work. They have a darling little boy and beautiful baby girl. I did manage to get a photo of part of the dinner. See the pile of turkey? Yes, Eric got more turkey, so don't worry 'yall. He had his fill.

I was assigned the pumpkin pie. Try making a traditional American item like pumpkin pie in a non-pumpkin pie country and you get hours and many stores later of getting all your ingredients. Needless to say, canned pumpkin is a rare thing here. So is premade pie crusts. It really was painful for me to use (cringing as I say this) premade crusts. Since we have limited kitchen items (and not wanting to buy a pie plate or flour) I had to make due. But, it turned out delicious and it was a lovely night. We even had a good game of charades. Thanks Jamie and Ryan for including us in your family Thanksgiving!

I handed our camera over to Lincoln (their little 2-year-old boy) just to see what kind of photos we would get. This was the best one.

THE PUDDING

At this time of year I would be so ashamed of myself if I didn't say a few things for which I'm grateful.

First and foremost, I am grateful for my family. You have all been so very supportive of us leaving. I know it was not what you wanted from us at all but I am very grateful to have you in our lives and know that we love you very much. We truly do miss you and will miss spending the holidays with you this year.

I am grateful for this bonus family who has been more than open and welcoming to me and accepting me into the family. I am grateful to them for the joy and fun times we spend together. I love that I have brothers and sisters (and nephew!) whom I love dearly.

I am grateful for my parents. For the love, constant support, closeness and joy they bring to Eric and me. This move has been especially hard on them and I just want them to know how much it means to me that they still love us and talk to us!

I am grateful for all of our friends (new, old and in-between) who give us laughs and great memories. We love you all!

Lastly, and more importantly, I am grateful for this guy:

You are my happiness.

Without getting too mushy I'll leave it at that (Eric knows how I feel about him. I won't make the rest of you gag).

I'll leave it at that for now. We miss you all and hope you had wonderful Thanksgivings. We are off to Berlin this weekend so stay tuned for an architectural extravaganza!