Thanksgiving 2010

Wow!  Time has flown by... and I need to catch y'all up on all the happenings here in Cáceres!  I'll start with Thanksgving, which now seems like ages ago.  One thing after another has occurred since I last wrote, and I feel like we've barely been able to catch our breath! 

We invited some of the single missionaries to join us for Thanksgiving, so we could all celebrate together.  I began cooking/baking a week ahead of time.  It was so FUN!

Meredith came from Madrid, and it was so fun to have help preparing the meal! ... of course the kid wanted to help with everything. :)

Of course Paul and Timon joined us, too!  It wouldn't quite be right without them! :)  Here, they are all playing "I spy" in Spanish.  My kids were LOVING it!

This is our treasure. haha... I finally found a whole turkey here in Spain.  I know many of have already heard that story, so I won't repeat it.  But, boy that was interesting!  This guy still has some feathers.  I tried to pluck as much as I could, but at least it didn't come with a head!!!!  Oh, and I didn't have a rack to put the turkey on so it wouldn't get soggy, so I decided to improvise with carrots.  Amazingly, it worked!

Working in tight quarters! :) (Although, I know that I am hugely blessed, b/c my kitchen is really huge for European standards!!!  No complaints here!! :) ) The kids LOVED helping too... maybe THAT'S why it felt like tight quarters. Haha.... :)

Another issue we had here was that I couldn't find a pan big enough for the turkey.  I had huge, long conversations with my friends about it, but they were all baffled.  I didn't bring my roaster from the states, b/c I didn't think I'd have the space.  I also wasn't sure it would even fit in my oven here.  I think it might have!  Anyway, I found a large pan in one of the stores here, but we didn't have a way to cover it.  These are pics of Meredith and I getting creative.

We wrapped the whole entire pan in foil! :)  It was a pan that literally slid onto the racks of the oven.  I wasn't sure if it would still slide in with the foil, but it did work.

I think it took us forever to get it right... we were hoping it would keep the moisture in.  Praise the Lord it worked!

The kids played all sorts of games all day... board games, "I Spy", I-pad games...

I couldn't resist putting this in of Weston.  He just looks so old... and it totally captures the kid he has become. :)

Helping again!!

All in all, it was a really great meal, I think!  It was about as American as I could get in Spain. Haha... no cranberries and no pecans, but we survived. :)  Homemade apple sauce, banana bread,  pretty paper plate, b/c I don't have a dishwasher, etc.  I think we did ok... :)

 

I think the guys were still in awe over their "American size" cups we gave them.

Family!! ... away from family. :)

Oh, and we can't forget dessert!  I made 5 pumpkin rolls one night.  I made one for us, and the rest I have away as gifts.  Wow, what a response I got from it!  It was very fun.  Cooking this big meal also made for great conversation starters with my friends.  They were all so intrigued by all of it.

Carolina had a blast with Meredith.  I think she really needs some girls around.  She just loved being with her.

 

We all had such a good time together.  Meredith came for a couple days and so it felt very "holidayish" with guests and all the special cooking.  I'm looking forward to doing it next year as an outreach! By then, we should definitely have the language skills to pull it off! :)  We loved our time together of thanking the Lord for all the MANY blessings He's given us this year!!!!