Thanksgiving is far and away my (Danny) most favorite day of the year. How can you beat Thanksgiving cuisine, family, and football? But, this year was the first time that I did not spend Thanksgiving in the states with family. It made us realize just how much we miss them, and the life events that we are missing out on — like missing our nephews 2nd birthday!
Aiden’s (our nephew) 2nd birthday party. He is opening the gift we gave him. He looks pumped 🙂
Kristen’s family
Kristen’s Dad and brother the day we left Austin
Danny’s family
Even as we think about the things we’re missing, we do feel super blessed and so thankful for Skype and other apps (especially during the holidays)!!!
But Thanksgiving can be great in China too. Kristen and I set out to make this happen. We invited 15 friends over for an “authentic” Thanksgiving dinner — for many it was their first. Kristen split duties with 2 other ladies to prepare the food, while the guys played football (Turkey Bowl!) at the university. I do wish I would have taken pictures because we were playing on a frozen field, with fresh snow, at a warm 28 degrees. We did this without heaters and all the frills players get back in the states 🙂
The ladies were the big winners of the day. They successfully cooked a delicious Turkey (which we had to order from a small import store about 6 weeks ago, as China does not have Turkey), my grandmother’s dressing (Kristen rocked this), mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, pumpkin pie, apple pie, ect. It was amazing and our guests loved it!!!
Our market
Turkey and to the left is BBQ chicken in case we ran out of Turkey. Can’t have too much meat at Thanksgiving!
Main course
Dessert 🙂 The pen and yellow paper were there for people to write what the were thankful for — we posted it on our wall in the dining room.
Our friends!
Surprise Kungfu demonstration. I’m thinking this is going to have to become a Thanksgiving Tradition in our house!!! It was awesome.
I finished Thanksgiving celebrations by skipping Friday’s Chinese class to watch the Texas vs. TCU football game. Boy was that a mistake. I should have gone to class (like Kristen did) instead of wasting 3 hours of my life watching that mess. The picture below shows me watching the game on the laptop that was overheating. Apparently, not even the laptop could stand streaming that game. I had to open the window and let it cool down.
Overall, there is much to be thankful for no matter where we are!
nomadic texan 