Giving Thanks in New Zealand

This past weekend we celebrated Thanksgiving in New Zealand. My actual Thanksgiving meal was a protein smoothie so I was happy to have some real food once the weekend came.  We were lucky enough to have not just one American Thanksgiving, but 2!

Friday night we went to our friends from church's house. They are here from North Carolina for a year while he does a Fellowship in surgery. They have 3 adorable little ones, including one that come to our room at children's church. They had quite the house full with plenty of grown ups drinking wine and kiddos running laps around the house :) We had everything imaginable from macaroni and cheese, wild rice, sweet potato casserole, turkey, ham, homemade egg nog and 3 kinds of pies!! I was over-stuffed and over-tired after dinner so it was a success! It was a great time meeting more Americans and Kiwis as well, (including a fellow American PwC wife who is a speechie)! They also had the Cowboys game streaming for the boys to watch!

American Thanksgiving with Americans! (and some kiwis/aussies) 

Saturday it was our turn to host when we had a lunch meal with some friends from our small group at church and co-workers. It was my first time in charge of a full turkey, but my co-worker did great cooking it in her oven! We had turkey with cranberry gravy, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, mashed taters, salad pumpkin and french silk pie! It was soo yummy and with a nice table display if I say so myself :) We got to watch the Iowa State game live while doing all the cooking and the replay of the Lions game during dinner and clean-up so it really felt like a proper Thanksgiving!!

The beautiful table with the yummy food!

What was left of the carcass. Will was sad there was no dog to clean all this up.

We have a lot to be thankful for this year. We are thankful that we have such a wonderful family, for having the opportunity to live in a beautiful country and explore all it's wonders, having such a strong support system in each other and for our faith and how it has grown in this past year.

Happy Thanksgiving!