Thanksgiving II

Last weekend we threw our second Thanksgiving feast for our northern friends, bringing some stateside tradition that we got love over to the UK. Thanksgiving is one holiday that I feel like I can really go in for - its all about sharing good food with family and friends, which in my books sounds like a pretty great combination. It feels weird and really good to be able to officially call something "our annual...(event)"; there's something about establishing traditions that makes you feel connected and rooted to a place and its people, which is something that I am slowly beginning to feel here.

It felt like an appropriate and timely celebration as well - near the end of what has been an often tough and bumpy year, I do feel so incredibly thankful for our lives here and the people in them. It was awesome to share a feast with the people that have seen us through our first year of transition to Manchester and in a small way return the favour!

We chowed our way through an enormous turkey (that had a very happy life!), homemade stuffing, candied yams, bacon-beans, mash, creamed corn, apple cabbage...and after a break which included a quiz (do you know how fast a wild turkey can fly?), we went on to a dessert of mostly pies: pecan, apple, cherry and of course the star - pumpkin pie! (Thanks to Sarah who smuggled a can through from the US last summer!).

It was a great day, and are still working our way through the leftovers...We're looking forward to carrying on the tradition every year, connecting past traditions with friends we meet and walk with on our journey...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Day comes to Manchester

Having spent the past 4 years experiencing a truly American annual Thanksgiving with my extended family in Boston, Andy and I decided to bring the tradition to Manchester on our first year back. We invited a bunch of our (mostly) northern friends and cooked and baked our hearts out!

It turned out to be such a fun day and with a hugely successful Thanksgiving spread despite the size of our tiny kitchen! We laid on turkey, homemade apple pecan stuffing, candied yams, mashed potato, sweet apple cabbage, veg and a selection of dessert which included brownies, a sinfully moorish chocolate pecan pie and Chris and Lucy's killer apple pie. We downloaded a bunch of NFL games and played them in the background and even strung up bunting made up of pilgrims, turkeys, US flag and Barack Obama for good measure! :)

We kicked things off by Andy reciting Abraham Lincoln's declaration of Thanksgiving as a national holiday and then ate til our jeans got too tight...a good day was had by all and we're fairly certain yesterday signaled a new tradition for us for years to come. Despite the dubious nature of the 'real' Thanksgiving story, the whole day did really make me reflect on how much we have to be thankful for; I'm overwhelmed at the blessings that are continually heaped on us - may there be many more years of thankfulness and feasting to come!