Since a few people had to work on Thursday, we had our big feast today (Saturday). I got up early this morning (well, relatively, at eight...but I didn't go to bed until two, so it felt really early...) to get started cooking. Micah came over mid-morning to bake his pumpkin pie; he doesn't have an oven. Meanwhile, I got the carrots going and mashed my sweet potatoes. We were about twenty minutes later leaving than we meant to be, and then had trouble getting a taxi, but we still ended up being some of the first ones there.
The Myers and the Lus hosted--they live across the hall from each other, so we could use both of their kitchens and living rooms. We split the cost of the turkey--they are quite expensive here; chinese people don't eat turkey, so it's a specialty item at Metro (a bit like Sam's club; caters to foreigners). The side dishes we brought potluck; I took glazed carrots with bacon and sweet potato casserole. They both turned out even better than I expected; you never know because sometimes ingredients are a bit different here. I have a few carrots left, but the sweet potatoes were cleared out fast. I should get some more pecans while they have them and freeze them so that I can make more later, maybe for Christmas.
There was so much good food...two or three kinds of dressing, green bean casserole, bread, turkey, ham, tacos, deviled eggs (which I'd never eaten much of before, but am starting to like), sweet potatos, and plenty of other stuff. I had a piece of Micah's pumpkin pie for dessert--I love pumpkin pie. :) Later, I snacked on a bit of Eric's no-bake cookies.
There were probably thirty to forty people there; of course the best part of Thanksgiving is spending time with family and friends. While I am far away from family, I did get to talk to my grandparents and to my mother over skype, and having such a big party today with friends made it truly seem like a holiday. I got to spend quite a while catching up with Ron, who I worked with in Jingzhou, who is visiting in China this month. I also spent time with several of the workers who live at nearby campuses; we really need to get together more often to shop or play games.
After we ate, several people started up a big game of the card game golf (ask my mom or Sue if you're curious--they're experts. Well, you could ask Dad or Doug, too, but you're more likely to get a good explanation from the first two :) ) I didn't play this time, but I watched the game as I spent some time talking with others.
It was a wonderful day. The only problem is that now I just want to curl up with a blanket and look at my Christmas tree--but I need to get busy writing exam questions for the final for my writing class.
Edit: Alright, sorry for the rather haphazard placement of pictures. The internet is being cantankerous tonight, and if you only knew how long it's taken me to get them on here at all...
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