Still Thankful

I've been meaning to post about Thanksgiving. Can you believe it's been a week already? We've so quickly moved from a time of being thankful into a season of being greedy. I'm trying to hold onto the spirit of thankfulness a little bit longer this year. We still don't have our tree, yet, so it's a little easier not to get sucked in!

We had a wonderful time Wednesday night with our homegroup. Even with our guests the kids still outnumbered the adults (18 kids 16 adults). One unique thing about our group this year was the international flavor. Moh Yin (from Malaysia) brought a new friend from China. There were also eight of the nine Egyptian neighbors. When we got home (around ten) we spent some time on the computer showing Zachary a map of the world and where we people were from. We compared everything to how long it took to drive to Aunt Donna's house (Nevada). Did you know that it would take roughly two weeks to drive to Egypt from Nebraska? I wonder if anyone's tried it?

The definite hightlight of the festivities were when our new friends sang traditional songs from their countries. I, of course, drew a mental block and could not think of a single song! Even if I could, I'm not sure my kids would have known any. I mean really, how often do we sing "Johnny Appleseed" or the like?

We spent Thanksgiving in Blair. I was really worried about not being able to eat any dairy (Eleanor has an intolerance). Can you name a Thanksgiving dish without butter or cream cheese? The hardest part by far was passing on Paula's french silk pie. (I attempted to make one with margarine for Greg's birthday- that doesn't work.) We had a wonderful time with friends and family. We watched a slideshow of a honeymoon in New Zealand- it made us want a digital SLR and new passports!

The rest of the weekend was spent lounging around and watching football. We made an advent wreath and are preparing our hearts for the celebration of Christ's birth.