Thanksgiving

Any american living overseas during the holidays can understand the dillema..the emotions...wanting to create the holiday atmosphere with all the nostalgic traditions. But realizing how much effort that takes. You have to search far and wide for some of your holiday favorites that go in your recipes (turkey, pumpkin, cranberry sauce, fried onions for green bean casserole) and some things you just plain will not find. If you do find things, they are so overpriced, you begin to contemplate in your head...is it worth it?

We tried to meet in the middle this Thanksgiving. We can feel the arrival of america in the very near future, but also wanted to celebrate in our own creative way here...I took on the job of the Turkey, but only with the promise that Mel would help me every step of the way...for this was my first Turkey.

I am sad that there is no macy's thanksgiving day parade here, so i tried to give claire a glimpse of it...

and when all the sides were finished, after pushing back our estimate meal time by 1 1/2 hours because of "turkey drama"..we gathered. our simple feast was so exciting and felt abundant. It was the 4 kiddos first Thanksgiving together and we realized that last thanksgiving Claire was a little bun-in-the-oven ready to come out, just like little baby moll. So we had to capture that on camera. =)

We feasted and then relaxed. Talking, laughing, and trying to come up with a plan lasted for hours...and i love that. i love the feeling of a group of people content to just be together and laugh, tease, and chill. that there may be things we could do, but being together is enough.

some amazing deals we found on shoes!

and of course we have some littles to entertain us these days...

happy thanksgiving to all...