Thanksgiving Memories

Thanksgiving didn't used to be all that exciting of a holiday for me. I mean, I enjoyed it. But it wasn't necessarily the one holiday that I looked forward to with eager anticipation. But sometime after we got married, it became on of my favorites. I credit a lot of that to the years we spent celebrating in Japan with fellow foreigners who weren't literal family members, but with whom we shared a tight bond--like the folks in this picture from Thanksgiving 2004. That sounds a bit strange, right? Developing a deeper appreciation for an American holiday while living in another country. It may sound strange, but it is true.
Thanksgiving isn't a holiday in Japan, so we usually celebrated on the closest Saturday. And we always met at the church building that most of us worshiped at. Some of us would gather the day before and decorate. I remember one year going to extreme measures with Mark and Charity to make sure we could fit everyone under one table.

And the desserts were always amazing. I think that's pretty much standard for every Thanksgiving celebration--or at least it should be! We had some excellent cooks in our group of "gaigin" (foreigners). I learned quite a bit about cooking and baking from these lovely ladies. I have several recipes that were given to me by some of them that I still use today. Like Nicole's sweet potato recipe, Kari's BBQ sauce, and Rachel's "governor" pancakes. Mmm, mmm good.
After dinner, everyone stayed the rest of the day and spent time together. Some of us brought our supplies and scrapbooked the evening away.
Some watched football games that Mark would record a few days before our gathering. The rest of us didn't have the fatty cable package that he had, so he was our ticket to American sports on TV.
Some people played games.
And others just enjoyed some conversation. I can appreciate Brooke in this picture (far left). She had two little boys about the age that my two are now. I noticed that she wasn't in any of the other pictures of people relaxing after the meal. My guess is that it's because she had to stay on her toes for her little guys. I can definitely appreciate that role right now.

This year, 2009, we made some memories as well. We had our meal with our church family here in Juneau at the church building.
We also got to share the day with my parents and my brother.
After our meal, my 2 yahoos played with whatever they could find.
And tried to be a goofy as possible.

And petted the heads of our friends. Ok, yes. But I'd like to point out that Rylan's hair looked very different from his normal doo. It must have gotten wet or something, because it was all soft and curly and cascading down his face. I mean who wouldn't want to reach out and touch it. Ok, so no one else did, but that's still alright. We're all friends here!
Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and made some wonderful memories.