{Thanksgiving}

Ever wonder what Thanksgiving is like in Japan? Pretty much the same. :)  Downside is that we don't get to watch the Macy's Day Parade and football games on our Thanksgiving day. Complete and total bummer. I'ts tradition. Only one more Thanksgiving here and then we will get our traditional American Thanksgiving complete with Macy's Parade and Football. :) Hopefully.

So, this Thanksgiving i made a turkey, a blackberry pie, an applie pie, potatoes , gravy and a green bean salad. I also made wassail, but that just stayed at our home for our enjoyment. :)  My turkey turned out amazing. I decided to brine it again this year. But this year i brined it the correct way. What i mean is that i followed the recipe exactly this time. Before i didn't.  So, he brined in this yummy smelling brine all night. Then i cooked in a bag, something i have never done before. It had sooooooo much taste, and i think cooking him in the bag made him tender and moist. It was a great turkey. The best ive had. YUM! This was my first time making gtavy with turkey drippings. Ive made gravy about 4 times before in my life...so its definitely not something that i am good at. BUT it turned out awesome. I NEVER have really liked gravy and i NEVER put it on my potatoes or turkey on Thanksgiving day. BUT i put it on yesterday, and i LOVED it. It was so tasty! :) If all gravy tasted that good then maybe i would use it more, but i must admit, i will never make gravy again until next thanksgiving. :) My blackberry pie turned out awesome and my apple pie not so great. It was really watery. I think i know what i did wrong, so i will try again next year. :) I didn't have to make EVERYTHING this year, which was so nice. I had enough to make to make it feel like Thanksgiving, but not so much that i felt tired by the end of it. It was great.

This Thanksgiving was spent with two other families we are pretty close with. We have lots of good friends here and i wish we all could have been together. It was TONS of fun and when we are with them i feel like we are with family.  One of the families has 5 kids, three of the kids being around the same age as each of my boys. And the other family has a boy Gavin's age, and the rest are older. ALL of the kids get along so so well. The kids kept themselves entertained the whole time. They just played and played. It was perfect. No fighting. Just play. The older kids, the 16 and 14 year old...they would hang out with us adults and it was a great fit. We did tons of chatting and played games. It was a lot of fun. I was sad when the day was over. By the time we left i realized we were all over there for 7 hours. That's a long time, but it didn't feel that long.

Before we left yesterday to go to their house for Thanksgiving, we decorated our house with our Christmas Decorations and our christmas tree. We listened to our christmas music and enjoyed the smells of the food. Perfect.

And today, the day after Thanksgiving, we have talked to our families, have been playing games together, finishing off our leftovers, and listening to Christmas music again, and watching football, and finished our new movie Brave. I love the Holiday Season. :)

I am so grateful for good friends. We have so many wonderful friends here and i am so grateful for each of them. We are so excited because Shane and I are going with 4 other couples on a trip to Thailand in February. We have never gone on a trip with a group of friends, minus the kids. We are so excited to do this with our friends and know its going to be so much fun! So, on Thanksgiving day i was pondering how grateful i am for all our friends in Okinawa. Not only that , but our friends in the states as well. And how each one has made a difference in our lives. I also thought of our families, whom i am always so grateful for, especially around the Holidays. The Holidays make me miss them more than usual. I wish i could just have every family member and every friend be with us during the Holidays. That would be a perfect Holiday...having the ones we love and care for by our side. That would be Heaven. :)

I also realize i need to get better again at taking pictures. I just need to do it. I often wish i had pictures to post along with these posts that have no pictures. haha! :)