Thanksgiving at Home!

Emily pointed out to me that we haven't had a Thanksgiving at home since 2015. In 2016 we were still living in a hotel so we went to the base's chow hall for our Thanksgiving meal before heading to York for the weekend. Last year Jared was deployed and the girls and I were invited to share Thanksgiving with our friends the Arteagas. For the first time in three years we spent turkey day at home and it was really nice! 

My goal was to spend as little time as possible in the kitchen today so I chose a menu that was mostly hands-off - including turkey in the slow cooker which is a total Thanksgiving game changer. By lunchtime, there was really nothing left to actively do so we headed out for an afternoon of fun. One nice thing about living out of the country for American holidays is that we're off school and work but everything else goes on as usual. That means we can go out and everything is still open but the local nationals are still in school or at work. 

Today we headed to nearby Bury St. Edmunds for their annual Christmas Fayre. Yes, that's how it's spelled. It's basically a Christmas Market and we love Christmas Markets so it was almost guaranteed to be a winner of an activity.  There were over 300 different stalls selling everything from fancy cheese to wool socks and we bought both of those things today! We did our best to go to every single stall and lots of the fun stores in Bury along the way. In addition to cheese and socks, we came home with a fun new board game, goalie pants for Abigail and basketball referee pants for Jared, and some really delicious bread that was the perfect complement to this year's simple Thanksgiving meal. 





Many of the market stalls were inside the Abbey Gardens and Samantha and Abigail just had to do a little mini photoshoot. It totally reminded me of the sister photoshoot the girls did outside our rented cottage two years ago when we spent Thanksgiving weekend in Yorkshire. I can't wait for next month when we're all together again and have actual family pictures taken! 


They had waffles! Food is always our favorite part of every market, but it took us a long time to make it to the stalls that were actually selling food. We got so desperate and hungry that we stopped off at a Greggs and grabbed a quick lunch of sausage rolls, a steak pasty, and a huge ham and cheese sandwich to eat while we were wandering around. Almost immediately afterward we turned a corner and found ALL the food stalls. So we missed out on the chance to eat some yummy market food for lunch, but we still got a few things (like those waffles and some churros and some flapjacks) for dessert. 

When we made it back home and came inside the house smelled like Thanksgiving, or like turkey! We just had to cook and mash our potatoes, finish the stuffing, make some gravy, and cook the peas and we were ready for our Thanksgiving feast. It's weird being a family of five, especially at times like these that have always been family times. Those empty chairs just feel extra empty on special days. But we're so grateful that our family in Utah is taking good care of Madison and Emily and sharing Thanksgiving with them. It takes the sting away a little and makes it easier to be apart. 


 Happy Thanksgiving! If you're reading this, we're grateful 
for your friendship and love. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What is Faith?

Image
What would you say if someone asked you what faith is? In Hebrews 11, Paul defined faith as "the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." The assurance of things hoped for - faith is knowing that because of Jesus Christ, we can hope for a brighter future. I feel as if hope and faith are one and the same. Life can be heartbreakingly difficult sometimes and even though I know that challenges are there to help us learn and grow, I sure wish I didn't have to go through those hard times. When I have felt surrounded by struggles and I couldn't see any way that things would ever get better, the only thing that has kept me moving forward is hope. Not the kind of hope that is sort of wishful like hoping your team wins a World Cup game, but hope that is sure because it is based on Christ. Having faith in Jesus Christ is having hope and knowing that His promises are sure.  The evidence of things not seen - faith in God grows when we see Him working in our...
Read more

Anxiety, Friendship, and Insecurity

This post has been kicking around in my head for a while now. My emotions have been closer to the surface lately - which can be both good and bad.  For a couple of weeks last month it was a bad thing and I found myself crying at pretty much everything and feeling alone and friendless even when I was surrounded by people. You'd think I'd be better at making friends after almost forty years of moving and having to form new connections at each new place. Instead, the older I get, the more difficult the process becomes. Even after I make friends deep down I question if we're really friends. I think these feelings of insecurity are part of what makes me willing to do almost anything for my friends. If I do nice things for you maybe you'll continue to tolerate my presence? I think I do a pretty good job hiding my insanity. I can fake confidence really well - smiling and laughing and making small talk. And then I go home and overanalyze and question every little thing I said...
Read more

Four Decades

Image
Birthdays are markers in our lives. Moving from one decade to another is a milestone that is not marked by an accomplishment or an important decision, but simply your age. That's something you can't control as time keeps moving forward whether we're ready for it or not. I can honestly say that I'm not bothered by turning forty and that I still look forward to my birthdays. But there's no denying that those milestone birthdays (you know the ones, they end in zero) are a big deal. A time that, for me, leads to some looking back to see if I've accomplished anything worthwhile in the previous decade of my life or in any of the decades of my life.  So I found photos of myself at all those other ages that end in zero. Maybe if I take it a decade at a time it will be easier to see what I've learned? Seriously, whose dog is this? Italy, 1981 Okay, this first one is already breaking the rules as it's not from a milestone birthday. I have two pictures...
Read more