happy thanksgiving

I know we're a little late, but since we don't get Thanksgiving Day off over here we decided to postpone our Thanksgiving celebration until Sunday. It was our first year not being with family, which of course was difficult, but we wanted to make it something fun and special anyway so we had our first Friendsgiving! We invited over some of our good friends that we've made here in Finland, and since none of them are from the U.S. (therefore never having celebrated Thanksgiving) we had to do it right. We spent the entire day Saturday and half of the day Sunday cooking as many traditional Thanksgiving dishes that we could manage. Green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, homemade rolls, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie...the works. The only thing missing was the turkey. I know, it's a pretty key piece, but the only turkey we found in Joensuu was about a million dollars, so we opted out. And even without the turkey and our families, it turned out to be a pretty good Thanksgiving. Everyone left happy and full, which to me meant that it was a success! This year we are so thankful for our friends and family back home and for the many new friends and memories that we've been able to make here.