Thanksgiving 2020

 

For Family Home Evening before Thanksgiving, we took a moment to wrote down things that we were grateful for and shared them.  It was amazing that even in this year of crazy Covid 2020, we still had much to be grateful for.  There always is of course when you stop and look for your blessings.  And this year was no exception.  Most importantly, above all, we have each other and the gospel of Jesus Christ that continues to be the compass of our lives. No surprise that Dad got artistic with his gratitude list.  He's a creative express-or of thoughts. 

Dad:

Thomas

Mom

Rhea

Savannah

Thanksgiving is a normal day in the country that we live in when we live abroad.  Being an American holiday, life goes on as usual with stores, schools, etc. being open.  However, working of course for the American Embassy, Bri gets work off, while the kids still have school.  And at this stage of middle school and high school, the kids can't miss school.  This year in particular, they had tests and projects due on Thanksgiving day, so Bri and I enjoyed a quiet day at home, followed by another quiet day of Bri studying Mandarin with a little break for visiting and playing a new game called Qwixx with the Baileys, Ewings, Westergards, and Thompsons.

On Sunday, we finally broke out a simple Thanksgiving meal of turkey, mashed potatoes, beans, my annual French Quarter Cheese Pecan spread, and pumpkin pie made by Savannah.  After church, we made lunch (here's Thomas dealing with some overcooked sweet potato noodles) and we started cooking Thanksgiving.  Living abroad definitely keeps our cooking efforts and expectations more simple.  The menu depends on what food we're able to find.  Being new to Beijing, we didn't know where to find everything, and I wasn't on the ball enough to have ordered all the food items we would need, but we found enough.  At least I thought ahead and ordered canned pumpkin on Amazon!

About a week before Thanksgiving, I discovered that the embassy commissary still had a few turkeys left, so I bought one.  I thought I had missed the window of opportunity, but alas, they had a few left.  And at the same time, I bought a Christmas ham, which I was surprised to find in stock as well.  It was beginning to feel like the holidays!

We still don't have our UAB or HHE, so we don't have any of our nicer dishes or serving ware.  I usually like to set out "name pumpkins" on each plate that I made years ago as well.  All in due time, but hopefully sooner than later.  Keeping it simple this year.

Savannah did a great job with the pumpkin pie!  I'm amazed at her bravery in tackling new recipes all the time.  Her favorite of course being dessert recipes.  It's so wonderful to have her lift our dessert burden in the kitchen and we're always happy to partake of her contribution.  ;)

 

By Sunday night after eating Thankgiving turkey, Rhea was ready to move on to Christmas and she started making a tree for us.  :)  And it got put up on the wall.

 

Rhea even got out her Christmas earrings that Savannah made for her.