Thanksgiving Feast Times Two
Yesterday was the annual kindergarten Thanksgiving Feast at the Things’ school. Thing Two and all the other kids had a blast. At first, I didn’t think there were goign to be enoughk parents to help, but of course, a bunch showed up a few minutes late, and then it turned out fine. The 60 kids cycle through six different centers where they do stuff like make a placemat, a turkey centerpiece (styrofoam cup, toothpicks, marshmallows & dried cranberries), make a sandwich, etc. Later, they all sit down at one looong table for a feast of popcorn, pumpkin bread (which they baked in class the day before), the sandwiches they made, and “friendship” fruit salad (each kid brings one piece of fruit, and the moms cut it all up for fruit salad). I helped at the station where they each made an Indian headband and either a “handsome pilgrim hat” or a “fashionable pilgrim bonnet, all the rage this year among fashionable young pilgrim girls” (my words; ya gotta make it fun for the kids to make it memorable). They all looked so cute while they ate. It was a lot of work and tiring, but well worth it. Yes, I’m glad they only do it in kindergarten. 
The whole batch of pictures are here, but here are some highlights.
Later, we hosted the annual church Thanksgiving pot luck. Usually, it’s a big thing w/100+ people in a rented location, but this time we met by our house church groups, which is a lot more personal and easier to manage/organized. I’d volunteered our house for the location b/c I knew the Things didn’t have school today, so it wouldn’t be a problem for us to have a houseful of people till late.
Considering the composition of our group — nine Philipinos, one Korean, one Japanese person, two Mexicans, and three boring old white folk — we had an interesting meal:
- turkey
- Honeybaked ham
- lumpia
- jell-o salad
- candied yams
- salad
- green beans w/a decidedly Chinese flavor
- a pasta dish that everyone kept calling “lasagna”, though it wasn’t (drove me nuts!)
- mashed taters
- various desserts and drinks
After we ate, we all took turns talking about what we were thankful for. As could be expected, there were some tears (and not just the two pregnant women), and it was a good time.
