A South African Thanksgiving

I was afraid that we were going to breeze right over Thanksgiving. After a failed Canadian Thanksgiving celebration in October (due to the budget issue we had that month), we had great hopes for November 26^th.

You should know that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Why? Because it has everything I love about Christmas but without any of the commercialism. Great good, great people, and lots of time to relax. I was a little apprehensive about what a celebration of an American holiday in South African would look like. Yet, my family never has had a set "Thanksgiving tradition" so I was pretty much open to anything except one thing: skipping it.

We didn't actually celebrate Thanksgiving on the actual day but rather we headed out Sunday afternoon to Phil and Christine's old neighborhood to celebrate with a bunch of Mennonite North Americans, a South African family, and a Congolese man.

We arrived at the house, arms loaded with two pecan pies, dinner rolls, and an extra pairs of shoes in case any type of outdoor activities arose. It was a good thing too because as soon as we got there Christine made us all play a game of touch football. Yikes. Okay people, I do not like football. I think it's stupid and slow (which it is). I had no idea what I was doing the whole time since I don't understand anything about the game. So I spend a good time of the game running around, creating chaos, and generally being a girl whenever the ball came flying past my head. (Scary). Despite the fact that I did not like it, it was still a lot of fun to be out in the yard, away from BCI, playing games with a bunch of different people.

Then it was on to the main event: the meal. And folks, dinner was amazing. We had all the traditional things, which seemed to taste even better here then they do in the States. Sorry mom.

Overall, it was the best way to spend our Sunday, fellowshipping with one another, eating lots of great food, and generally enjoying the atmosphere. And since it was also a break from life at the manse, the holiday seemed even better. I might even be bold enough to say that it was one of the top five Thanksgiving celebrations I have ever had.