Come Ye Thankful People, Come

Since it was Thanksgiving in the US, yesterday I decided to celebrate here in Rio. The weather cooperated as it was windy and a nice temperature all day - helps with the stove and oven going full blast. I invited friends over who had lived in the US or had US links. You can see we had a nice group over - although João was prominently missing - he had a deacon's meeting!
But what fun we all had preparing the food, decorating and eating, of course. There were enough people that I pulled in my kitchen table for alternative seating and then added in another table to serve the food (not my idea, but a great one). As you can see, we made our best effort to make the meal as traditional as possible - turkey (although we had a roaster), green beans, sweet potatoes, cranberries, dressing, mashed potatoes, salad and pumpkin pie, not to mention chocolate cake and a fruit pudding and expresso coffee. Wow! We were all stuffed. But you know, the best part of the evening was not the food. It was sharing how God has blessed us this past year. We all shared and thanked God for our many blessings. I even made us sing "We Gather Together" in English. I sort of explained why Thanksgiving is celebrated in the US (I realized I myself had forgotten a lot of the details). It was a wonderful night. A good time was had by all (at least I hope it was). And I have the wonderful bonus of not having to cook for a very long time now (lots of left-overs).
This morning I was able, with João's very able help, to put the house back together and organize the left-overs. I sent food home with lots of people, but still needed to freeze some. I kind of like the clean up, because it gives me a chance to re-think and remember what went on - this year and in the past as well. Isn't it great to have such a good life that it is worth remembering the past? Another of God's blessings.