Thanksgiving ... and the Countdown to Christmas!

May I please preface this post with the following disclaimer: MY SPELL CHECK ISN'T WORKING! So, I'll do the best I can, spelling not being my forte ... just beware!

I have a good friend, Rose, who God always uses in my life to realign my sometimes selfish and shallow perspective. She sent my family a Thanksgivng card and said how excited she was for us to share our first Thanksgiving dinner in Austria. She said it would be like the first pilgrims who came starting fresh and establishing new religious freedoms in a strange new land. What a privledge she said. Umph. I had been feeling rather sorry for myself. This being our first Thanksgiving away from our country, family, and traditions, I was thinking of all I had not ... not all I had. Once Roses' words began to penetrate my heart, I had a new perspective about our holiday. Since Thanksgiving is an American holiday, we felt like we were in the underground world, plotting and planning for our special feast. We gathered at another Ameican family's home and shared our dinner. It was the first all-American dinner we had since arriving. Turkey and dressing, sweet potatos, green bean cassarole, pumpkin pie with real American cool whip! It was wonderful! Other than our hosts, Jeff and Ailene, burning his arm hair on the candles set for the table and she getting sick with the flu ... a good time was had by all! We were grateful to have spent the day with new friends God had given us in our new country.

A few years ago, we decided that years from now, our children will not remember what they recieved every year for Christmas. We didn't want to spend money on things that would be shoved in the closet and eventually sold in a garage sale. So, we came up with the idea of giving our daughters experiences each weekend through the month of December as their "gifts". This weekend we kicked our Christmas celebration off ... by going to the U.N. and attending an International Bazzar. Instead of spending our Thanksgiving weekend shopping like fools in honor of Black Friday, (no names mentioned by my sister was up at 2:30 a.m. and at 3:30 a.m. was camped out at Target with her cousins Sarah and Becky and sister-in-law Rhonda!) we got to hear and see entertainment from all over the world. World-wide crafts, vendors and foods were also featured. Each of us got 10 Euro to spend for the day. Most of it was spent on sampling the foods. Chris ate Greek and Thai food, Addison and Parker ate Chinese noodles, I nibbled on Vietnamiesse noodles, Kazichstan pastry and Baklava from Turkey, while little Libby stuck to what she knows best, American cuisine, and had an all American Hot dog! Probably the best find of the day for me was the Flohmarkt (flea market) they had inside the Bazzar. Near the end of the day, they had fill up a bag for 1 Euro. So, Libby got a new coat (see the picture), I got a pair of Docker pants, Parker a silky sleep shirt, and an apron to add to the dress-up clothes collection.

Along with our Thanksgiving celebration, kicking our family Christmas tradtion of holiday experiences, this week was also highlighted by the news of our dear friend, Marti, officialy buying a ticket to see us the end of December! Libby is making plan for a sleepover ... We are all thrilled and can't wait to see our sweet friend! So, just as a reminder to others of you who think we live so far away ... go buy a ticket!

In closin, the Christmas season is upon us! So .... enjoy!