Friday, November 24, 2006

Thanksgivings: Past and Present

We've had about nine Thanksgivings in Uganda. And sometimes I forget what is interesting about that. Thanksgiving outside of America...
Here are some remembrances from Uganda Thanksgivings past...that I think are pretty interesting...

**Jeff and I had fish fillet for our first Thanksgiving here. It was at the LakeView Hotel in Mbarara.

**Our second thanksgiving was also in Mbarara...this time I baked pies and took them with us to the LakeView.

**Our first actual turkey to cook in Uganda had such tough meat...we could not even carve it. We both knawed on a hard fought slice for Thanksgiving sake...then gave up and ate pie.

**We watched the same football game on Thanksgiving...three years in a row.

**I finally mastered corn bread stuffing about year 6.

**Our friends, the Chedesters, began hosting Thanksgiving some years back and inviting all the Americans from around.

**We now share the Turkey meal with between 8 and 20 people...some of whom we meet on the day and never see again.


Yesterday's celebration had all the important ingredients...friends, laughter, yummy food, really good coffee and LEFTOVERS!!!
We missed our families in the US, Macy's parade and a current football game...
Nonetheless, our list of Thanks grows longer every year...

I hope your Thanksgiving week is progressing nicely and that the spirit of gratitude remains with us WAY longer than the calories from the pies! :-)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

We had a good Thanksgiving. See "Lynn & Sherilyn" for pictures. We missed you a bunch but are thankful for the work you do and the sacrifices you make. I am also thankful for your good American friends in Uganda who "keep the Thanksgiving traditions" with you

Procters in MOJO land said...

The statement about the tough turkey brought visions of "Christmas Vacation" to mind. The Griswolds really ARE our family!!!!!:-) We missed you and thought of you all day. Love you, Reese

KMiV said...

Ours went well also. Sounds like it gets better for you every year. Glad to know Turkey is prevalent in Uganda.

We had you in prayer this week.

Jim Coffey said...

Football ... should we record something to DVD and mail it to you? How long does it take to get the mail? I've got a DVD burner attached to the TV so it's pretty easy for me to do this as a Christmas gift. What team does Jeff like ... Seattle? Send me an email if you'd like me to do this and I'll try to record a game this Sunday. jimcoffey62@yahoo.com

phyllis said...

We had a wonderful family dinner at Mike & Koni's,but we missed you all as we do every holiday. We had great food, way too much, but our favorite thing, of course, was the turkey, bacon,cranberry sandwiches, and some of us even had avacado piled on as well! The dinner was tasty,but we love the time relaxing, eating pumpkin pie with real whipped cream, watching football, holding Fiona, and listening to the kids chase each other through the house shrieking and loving being together.
We are thankful for all of our family, and we are thankful you have 'family' there to support you.
Much love,
Mom

Katherine@Raising Five said...

Reminds me of many "improvised" holidays as a kid. Lots of memories - cherished ones that make me even more thankful!