An international Thanksgiving

Never in my life would I have predicted I'd be having Thanksgiving dinner with Spainards, an Austrian, a German, and a Belgian. But so it happened this week, and it was just as happy and warm as a back-home celebration!

Our dear Spanish friends wanted to host a Thanksgiving dinner at their apartment for us. They were anxious to see how close to the movies a "real" Thanksgiving dinner would be like, and I was just as anxious for an excuse to make some of my favorite Thanksgiving foods! So we rounded up some of the expats that hang out together and planned a fun evening.

Toby and I made most of the food so we could pick out the most important Thanksgiving dishes for people to try: sourdough stuffing, gravy, and broccoli casserole. The Spainards made a chicken (because turkey is hard to buy for less than $80 - $100) and roast beef, and the German made mashed potatoes. Conspicuously absent was anything cranberry; I've yet to find cranberries here (although my friend Susan said she found a seller last week). Cranberries notwithstanding, we had a great spread!

My Thanksgiving flowers from Esther

Without a doubt, the favorites were the broccoli casserole and the pumpkin cheesecake with pecan pie topping. It was the first time everyone had eaten both of these dishes, but they were a hit! There were a lot of dubious looks at the pumpkin pie….

But everyone really liked it (or at least said they did)!
A big topic of conversation through the evening was everyone's various Christmas traditions. There are some really weird ones, but it was interesting what themes were consistent across the various homelands. Who knows...maybe a Belgian Christmas celebration is up next!
It was a lovely night. We are really blessed to have such a wonderful substitute family here in Sydney!

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