Thanksgiving!

Pictures of Thanksgiving will be coming soon. We didn't get our camera back (we had left it at someone's house) in time. So we'll be getting pictures from others who had their cameras out.

John said one of his favorite moments was right before he was going to carve the turkey. One girl from China was amazed at seeing the turkey, and it ended up that many had not see a whole one cooked before. So John announced "If anyone wants to see the turkey, come on over." There were lots of photos taken.

I really liked seeing everyone in line for food and sitting down eating their first round. The afternoon/evening sometimes got empty as no one really knew what to do but eat and talk. I think everyone acknowledged that that was part of it, being full and having nothing to say, just sitting contented. We transitioned to dessert a little early and didn't end up making coffee or tea because of that, but people started leaving so we wanted them to get some pie!

Our Mormon friends came! They actually came early and then came back on time, but almost no one else came on time. Which, had everything been done, would have made me really annoyed. But the potatoes needed more time to heat up, the gravy needed more time to thicken, etc. Some came more than an hour late though.... which is like.. "Come on. You of all people should know to come on time." It was a Canadian. But the point was, that it was good that the Mormons came earlier and introduced to people slowly. Everyone else knows each other, so it's good that they got integrated slowly. It's funny though to think that they are only 19. I don't think that ever sank in and maybe I should have made more of an effort. They were about to leave without eating dessert though and that could not be tolerated! So we gave them some pie and they insisted on giving us some money.

We have some leftovers, but they are definitely disproportionate. We have the wings and maybe a tad of breast meat, we have lots of stuffing (both veggie and meat). We have a sour cream container of mashed potatoes, a hand full of green beans, and three or four sweet potatoes. We have a whole pumpkin pie, a whole apple pie and maybe a whole pies worth of other leftover pie. I think maybe I should freeze the apple pie until Christmas. What do you think? We have ice cream, orange juice, beer, red wine, 7Up. We have two bags of bananas!

Thankfully everyone is always helpful with cleaning up. There isn't even really trash or compost to take out. The recycling is already bagged up. The dishes were cleaned and most things we borrowed given back last night. I put alway most of the leftovers to make room for pies on the table and make it clear what was a dirty dish. So really all that's out is the pie and the carcus and some drinks. Success! I think that's pretty much the take away message. We had enough seating, though sometimes it wasn't used. We had enough food. People were generous. We had a nice ambiance with candles and Christmas lights. Yen even brought us a poinsettia! So perfect for kicking off Advent! I think I want to go buy some candles for Advent, or use the ones I have, and make a Advent wreath. That and a tree should be good!

We also started really thinking about our trip to St Petersburg last night, with Ludmilla whose from that city. In our guide book from the library, she drew in pencil a route for us to take through the city, and starred a good restaurant for us to go to. She recommended getting the buffet. : ) It was fun to sit with her looking through our travel papers and book, because she just took charge.

Now that Thanksgiving is over, I'm not sure what to do with myself. Well, yes, I have had ideas of things to do after Thanksgiving. But this morning, nothing has been pressing, so I'm just enjoying the lack of stress. Yesterday was definitely stressful, and I don't think it's healthy for a pregnant women to be in charge and most of the time alone. John came home at 10 am and when he did, I remembered to eat something, but didn't eat much yesterday until the meal and completely forgot my vitamin until I was in bed. In our haste on Wednesday, we forgot to buy more eggs and so Thursday didn't even started with a very hardy breakfast.

I thought I would get a nap yesterday, but no luck. I fell asleep on the couch at about 8:30pm (everyone was gone by 7:30-8pm) while listening to Morning Edition and waiting to see if anyone wanted to Skype. But then, as usual, I got it bed and had to spend about 5 minutes getting my heart rate down from the transfer, and then John came in too and we couldn't get to sleep. Arg...

Maybe I'll take a nap soon. Just see if I can sleep before John gets home. I just had a piece of apple pie, so hopefully that will help. It's a grey cloudy day and I have Evening Shade playing, so it's definitely setting the scene for sleep.

Hope your Thanksgiving went well! We missed family, but enjoyed the challenge and satisfaction of providing a Thanksgiving experience for everyone here!

Love, Emily