Overseas Thanksgiving...

Well, I've now experienced my first overseas Thanksgiving--and what an interesting experience it was! I spent the morning going to a nondenominational Thanksgiving service at St. Paul's Cathedral with my friend Julie and a couple thousand of my other closest London-based American friends. St. Paul's is part of the Church of England, but the service was truly non-denominational (with basic Christian sermons and much singing of familiar hymns) and the U.S. Ambassador gave the main address, talking about how blessed we are to have such a great relationship with our British brothers and sisters and what a blessing it is to be here. I found the music to be the most intriguing part of the service; and I learned two important things: 1) it's very hard for people to stay on key in a place that big with such terrible acoustics and Phantom-of-the-Opera organ accompaniment, and 2) singing doesn't have to sound good for the message of joy to be expressed. I enjoyed it immensely (but if you would have told me a year and a half ago I'd be singing Thanksgiving hymns in St. Paul's Cathedral in London on Thanksgiving, I would have thought you were delusional).

Anyway, the children had school (since it wasn't a holiday here--go figure), so after school we went out to dinner with several other American families. The place was actually a pub, since that's what restaurants are here, but it was a VERY NICE pub. The waiter had a little bit of trouble wrapping his mind around the fact that the 20 of us wouldn't be drinking alcohol, but after that the evening went great. There was turkey, but alas, no pumpkin pie--the fruit skewers and dipping chocolate I had were "well nice," though ("nice" is the most commonly used British generic descriptive word, and "well" is used like our "really," like in "well nice" or "well bad"--just thought you'd like to know...).

The festivities continued Friday night, when we were invited over by another American family for dessert--real pumpkin pie! (Mike's in the military and they can shop on base and buy American food...) The kids were thrilled that we got to celebrate two nights in a row, and we all very much enjoyed the hang out and the best pumpkin pie ever (funny how good things taste when you haven't had them in a year).

Even though we weren't at home, Thanksgiving was still the great opportunity to pause and reflect on our blessings that it always is. Though we certainly don't need a holiday to express our gratitude and we should be doing that EVERY day, it's still nice to have one day officially dedicated to everyone being grateful. I'm more grateful for faith, family, and friends than I can even begin to express. Thank you all for being part of our lives and blessing us with your love and friendship. You're such a phenomenal blessing and example! May the joy of Thanksgiving stay with us all and fill our hearts and homes through the coming season as we remember the Savior. Happy Thanksgiving!