Thanksgiving...Island Style!

I've been meaning to post pictures from our Thanksgiving weekend for a while now.  Tonight is the perfect night for it.  Besides, I better post these pictures since Christmas is just around the corner!  This Caribbean weather is really throwing me off with my sense of time...

Our first Thanksgiving on the island did not start out well.  I came down with a fever the Saturday night before Thanksgiving.  For the next five days, I was on a soup diet since everything else hurt too much to swallow.  I was miserable.  I was homesick and I was keenly aware that my family and friends were miles away from me.  It's amazing how when you are physically not well, it puts a damper on your emotional and mental state.  Thankfully Megumi and Mike did not get as sick as I did.  Megumi only had a fever for a day and Mike had sore throat for couple days.  I realized "good health" is something our little family had taken for granted.  Not anymore.

Thanksgiving day was the first day after being sick that I was able to FINALLY eat something other than soup!  I think everything tasted EXTRA tasty.  Although they don't really celebrate Thanksgiving here in St. Kitts, we were invited to join a special Thanksgiving lunch at the Prep. School where I teach piano after school to few students.  Although we were all sweating, it was cozy and we enjoyed good food amongst great company!  It was a little strange that most of the people that attended the Thanksgiving lunch had to go back to work afterwards. (Not Mike though! The dental clinic was closed on Thursday and Friday.)

Although we were invited to another Thanksgiving dinner that evening, we decided to stay home and "take it easy" and enjoy a quiet family time.  Since we really didn't have time to prepare for a Thanksgiving dinner, we decided to forget the traditional food and make pizza!

                           

"Mom, are you going to share any of that with me?"

However, on Saturday evening Mike did have cravings for Thanksgiving food, so he made mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, green beans, and we had vegetarian hot dogs instead of turkey! (a little random I know but you have to be flexible when your choices are limited!)  Then I made pumpkin bread for dessert which we enjoyed with some vanilla ice-cream.  We concluded our weekend by listening to Christmas songs and writing Christmas cards while our ceiling fan kept us from sweating too much!    

Was it strange to spend Thanksgiving without our family? Yes.  It was strange and we definitely missed sitting around a big table with everyone.  However, our hearts were still filled with thanksgiving.  Although it almost felt like a regular day, perhaps that's how it's really suppose to be.

Everyday, we should count our blessings and remind ourselves of the ways God has been faithful in the past.  Everyday, we should give thanks to how He is faithful in the present.  Everyday, we should rejoice in how we can trust that He will continue to be faithful in the future.

It won't literally be Thanksgiving everyday (although that would be super cool!).  But at least I hope Mike and I can strive to build the "atmosphere of Thanksgiving" in our home...everyday.