THANKSGIVING

Aah, Thanksgiving had finally arrived! Why had we been looking forward to it? Because we had been planning out Thanksgiving dinner since March, 2010!! That's when our good friends from Everlife came to Holland and brought some extra friends over, including Mr. David Browning. From the beginning, he invited us to join his family for a real American Thanksgiving dinner. And we took up on his offer. BUT before we share the story of this Thanksgiving dinner, we'd like to share with you the story of Thanksgiving dinner no. 1 of Saturday, November 20th. We arrived after seeing our friend, Nick Black, perform at a nice (but tiny) stage in the middle of the street somewhere in Midtown (which is a neighborhood in Memphis). He pretty much rocked the stage and we really enjoyed his performance. If you like Michael Bublé/Warren Barfield, you would definitely like Nick Black. So, after this performance, we went up to a very nice neighborhood where this Thanksgiving dinner was. We came in a little later than everyone else and as a result…the turkey was GONE! So, at our VERY FIRST Thanksgiving dinner, we missed out on the turkey! How funny! We weren't too bummed, though……because we knew we would have TWO more Thanksgiving dinners where there would be plenty of turkey :) Some of the traditional food at Thanksgiving are: of course the turkey, gravy (for the turkey), mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes (aka yams), cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, cornbread stuffing, corn, and much more. For desserts, it's pecan pie and pumpkin pie, but everyone probably has their own thing, too. All in all, a great dinner!

Our second Thanksgiving dinner was with our good friend David. We went with him to meet his amazing family. They were VERY welcoming, which we think is a typical Southern thing. And we love it! We're hoping to bring some of that back home with us to Holland :) Lena made bite size "appelflappen," which they totally fell in love with, by the way…Here is what we've learned: a traditional American Thanksgiving family dinner consists of your family (and close friends ;P), good food, and American football!!! Lena still has no clue what the rules and regulations are in American football, but then again, she's a girl, so what can we expect…? Hehe! Anyway, after dinner, we had some GREAT desserts, pecan pie, something with chocolate and caramel cake. Oh boy, and what a heavenly cake that caramel cake was! YUMMMM… Also, dinner didn't mean having "dinner" in the evening, but more like start at lunch and work your way through all the good food which will make you feel full for the rest of the night. David and his family were soooooo nice and good to us, which made us feel closer to them and having the real feeling of a traditional Thanksgiving. After dinner, we had to say goodbye to our friends, but we'll see them soon enough when we're back in Nashville :) We love you guys!!!

Thanksgiving dinner number 3: our good friend, Doug, invited us and a couple of other international students (most of which were girls, by the way, but that was just a casual observation :P). We played some games (Wii, Rock band, Mafia, etc.) and had…yes, another great dinner, made by Doug's lovely mom: mash potatoes, sweet potatoes, TURKEY, ham, roast beef, the whole nine yards! Lena made appelflappen again :D It seems to be a total hit with the Americans!! Haha! We've decided to bring Thanksgiving over to Holland next year. Lena should learn how to cook those things :P Anyone want to celebrate Thanksgiving with us next year? LET US KNOW!

Anyway, this blog is getting way to long! Our conclusion about Thanksgiving: good food and great family alone is something to be thankful for :)

Sending you some lovin' from the other side of the world. Thank you so much for keeping up with our blogs. Nothing but love!

-Lena & Jesper-