Happy (post) Thanksgiving!

Our Thanksgiving was lovely this year.  Early in November, while I was still working, I decided not to host, as I usually do, but as the day drew nearer, I started to feel more and more guilty about that choice.  Fortunately, inertia is a powerful force and by then I had already said yes to three different shindigs taking place the day after Thanksgiving and the day after that, so I stuck to my guns (or, more accurately, did nothing) and resisted the urge to host.  Instead, we went to our three different events and had all sorts of good food with good company and I only had to wash the dishes I used to make my potluck contributions!

Of course, being me, I overcommitted for the potlucks, so I ended up making quite a bit of food anyway.  Our first dinner was with some of the husband's friends from work.  We have been experiencing the Great Turkey Shortage of 2015 over here this year (the unfortunately timed result of avian flu and halal issues), so our friend ended up paying 99QR (about $35) PER KILO for the five turkeys she ended up buying, a veritable fortune in poultry, but the turkeys (prepared many different ways) were all delicious, so we appreciated her extravagance.  She also invited lots of expats from other countries and then directed them to make traditional American dishes, so I ended up spending time at one point talking to a lovely British couple about the finer points of green bean casserole and the curious combination of sweet potatoes and marshmallows and agreeing with a Kiwi woman who could not stop expounding on the virtues of this delightful American tradition with its delightful cuisine!  We brought our traditional cranberry jello mold with strawberries, granny smiths, and pecans (though, truth be told, many of the other expats were VERY suspicious of the "jelly"), my grandmother's curried chicken cheese ball (anything rolled in coconut is always a hit), and my patented German(esque) potato salad, because how can you go wrong with dill pickles and bacon?  E loved the potato salad so much he had it for breakfast before school this morning, finishing off the last little bit.  This party also had a face painter and a photo booth with props, so E had a dragonfly painted on his hand and J took far too many pictures with oversized sunglasses and bow ties.  We stayed for hours and ate more than we should have, just like every other Thanksgiving!

Look at the detail on that dragonfly!

E with his friend M from his class at school.

There are many, many more of these!

Later that evening, we went to the monthly soiree thrown by our neighbors that we rarely miss.  Because we weren't sure we were going to make it to that one, I hadn't cooked anything special, so we reformed the cheese ball and added new crackers, put the leftover potato salad in a smaller bowl, and threw some banana oatmeal chocolate cookies I had made earlier in the week onto a plate before we walked over.  These soirees are always potluck affairs where the attendees can perform musical numbers if they would like; this month's theme was Christmas music.  J led everyone in singing Jingle Bells, E hummed Walking in a Winter Wonderland while the husband sang (because E wanted to sing that one but then realized he didn't actually know the words when the time came to perform), and the husband and I did an a cappella version of Once in Royal David's City, his favorite Christmas hymn.  I never perform at these things usually, being happy in my appreciative audience member position, so this was the rare exception for me.  There were quite a few other numbers as well, including some really impressive singing, piano, and guitar playing by a young man from the Ukraine who pretty much blew the rest of us out of the water and some lovely ukulele playing by another very talented guy from Fiji.  Apparently, the festivities went on quite some time into the night but we left at 8:30pm, it already being quite a bit past the boys' bedtime.

We were pretty giggly after the first party!

Our hosts introduced us to a new Christmas movie before
 the party began...the boys were enthralled. 

The pseudo-duet.

I need to get better at selfies....

The next day, Saturday, the husband played in an early morning golf tournament...and his team won, for the second year in a row!  We met him at the golf club for the award ceremony and lunch, but while he was off winning, the boys and I were at home making more food for our next dinner that afternoon with friends from church.  For our final Thanksgiving feast, I made cornbread stuffing (with onions and apples), cornbread (for J, who loves it more than anything, my Southern baby), pumpkin and cranberry bread pudding, cranberry sauce, and turkey gravy.  Oh, and I also cooked two turkey breasts in the slow cooker.  As I said, turkeys were few and far between this year; I found these two randomly in the frozen food section and decided to donate them to the cause.  We also had many roast chickens for dinner as well, smothered in vats of turkey gravy.  That dinner was delicious all around, with lots of dishes I want to get the recipes for, including a fresh cranberry relish I could have eaten the whole bowl of and a chocolate pie that I had to stop myself from devouring completely!

E with the first of two trophies the husband earned.

J with trophy number 2.

The victorious team!

On the course--look at that sky and that green!

In a year that is still filled with uncertainty, we are certainly grateful for all our friends here with whom we could celebrate, as well as all our friends and family at home we hope to see again soon!