I woke up today to the sound of my alarm clock rain, and it was great to lay in bed for a few more minutes of the day. I love it when I can sleep in a little bit but not so late that I have to rush through the rest of the day.

Last night I made two pumpkin pies. My mom graciously let me do the whole thing and tolerated my questions about “A half cup of brown sugar for each pie? Or for both?” and “How long do I leave them in the oven for?” All in all, I think they turned out pretty well. Well it was my great-grandmother’s recipe, so they HAVE to be good.

Great-grandma’s recipe. I had to rewrite the whole thing to include the things that this recipe calls for that is different than the printed one. My mom just never bothered to write them down before, so I nabbed her after the pies were in the oven to get her to give me the details for my own recipe file.

I love licking out the cans…

All ready for the pie filling.

Double the goodness!

Nov 24. Thankfulness

Today, I’m thankful for Thanksgiving! Some of you might take this holiday for granted, but I never do. After spending five years in Canada and not being able to go home for this great family holiday, I have come to appreciate it more than I ever had before. Canadians celebrate their Thanksgiving in October (and it’s not as big as the holiday is here in the USA) so I always had to go to class on Thanksgiving. Except for a special lunch in the cafeteria, it was like any other day. I hated not being able to be with family and people who understood my need to celebrate this very American holiday.

Until I got acquainted with the George’s. They are an American couple teaching at CUC and every year, they open up their house to all the American students Thanksgiving evening and have tons of good homemade southern cooking. We would sing the National Anthem and I would always get a little choked up, a bit homesick for family. We would then go around the room and say from which city and state we were from and what we were thankful for. A heartfelt prayer and the feeding frenzy would begin. We all became for that night, a family. American’s celebrating together.

It was great to be able to relate with other American’s and feel less lonely that day. I will always be grateful for the generosity and understanding of the George’s. Being willing to cook for days (up to a week before!), and open up their house to over 50 people. One of these Thanksgiving’s, I am going to travel back up to CUC and spend it with them, my family.

Mom and I are off to spend Thanksgiving with friends. Can’t wait!