Saturday, November 26, 2011

Giving Thanks

It's hard to be away from family during Thanksgiving.  Warm memories of turkey with all the fixings with immediate family, cousins, aunts and uncles, in-laws, and grandparents surface as soon as someone says "Thanksgiving."  And, sadly, many of our family members back home won't have a large meal with many places set at the "adult table" and the "kiddie table."  We seem to be scattered about the world now and maybe getting too old to prepare and host a big meal.

But for the exPat's in Korea, we've managed to keep tradition alive - after a fashion.

Actually, we've had three Thanksgivings.  Our school was kind enough to host a feast for all the employees and their families.  They brought in turkey from the American base, stuffing, mashed potatoes, mixed vegetables, and pumpkin pie.  We sat at the tables set up in the conference hall, ate, and visited.  It was quite pleasant.  I couldn't help but think that if I were at my last school (a Catholic school) we'd have a prayer together.  I missed that.

Today at our new friends from Australia's apartment, we had another feast.  It was a wonderful sitdown potluck meal.  An international group - Australians, Canadians, Americans - and ages spanning 4 years to 45 with 10 kids and 11 adults managed to give thanks together, watch the Packers play Detroit, and enjoy each others stories.  Sound familiar?

So while we certainly missed being "back home" we managed to bring home to Korea this Thanksgiving.  I'm grateful for my family and my friends!

May God Bless you and your loved ones and may you find much to be grateful for.

B

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