pre-Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is tomorrow--our time. But we won't celebrate until Friday and Saturday. Can you believe that the university won't give the day off to eat food?! ;) They were nice enough to trade for Friday--and only for the foreign teachers! I guess they like us or something.

Friday, we'll celebrate with our team, plus 2 extras. 10 adults, 3 kiddos. We are hosting...should be fun! I plan to make cornbread casserole (from scratch: cream corn and sour cream..oh boy), some sort of apple crisp or pie, and a fruit/yogurt salad. I'm stoked about all the goodies people are sacrificing and working hard to make. We'll do the best we can to make it "normal." I didn't decorate for fall in the states, but since we're hosting, I feel like we needed to do something. So I made some orange and lemon-clove pomanders. Very fun and they already smell great! (Lucky for us, cloves are SUPER cheap here.) We hope to watch some football, play some games, and watch a movie together. In between naps, right?!

Saturday, our team will make the jaunt into Beijing to celebrate with 40-50 other people in our company that live nearby. And, as mentioned before, there will be TURKEY. I'm stoked. Mainly because they don't have turkey here...just massive (like, multiple aisles) amounts of ham. Plus, with that many people, there will be so many delicious choices, I'll barely be able to contain myself. There is talk of a football game to be played, so hopefully Michael will be able to show off some of his skills.

I'm sure I'll take lots of pics. And I'll post them later...even if I have to wait an hour for them to load. :)

And finally, a list of thanks. I'm thankful for:

a Father who loves, perseveres, and promises the best.
a husband who loves me dearly, lets me know it, and is a superb father.
a son who has a laid-back personality and loves to giggle and dance.
family and friends at home who take initiative to stay in contact.
a team who looks out for each other.
students who desire more in life.
the import store that isn't terribly far away.
mostly-reliable internet that keeps us plugged into the world.
our own heat (versus what most Chinese have..controlled by the gov't).
(on most days) stairs and a bike that keep me in better shape.

Happy Thanksgiving!

P.S. Someone please grab a deal or two on Friday in my honor. I sure will miss the middle-of-the-night chaos!