American Thanksgiving

At the end of November, we enjoyed our 2nd Thanksgiving of 2009! Canadian Thanksgiving was in October (read about it here), and then we had the privilege of being invited to Donna and Terry's home in Mt Vernon, Washington, to celebrate US Thanksgiving on Thursday 26th November! (Donna and Terry are the parents of one of our Vancouver friends (Janae), and are the folks we stayed with on our way to Montana.)

We drove the 2 hours to their place on Wednesday evening, and Kelly and Janae arrived soon after us.

Here's the view from Donna and Terry's beautiful log home on Thanksgiving morning...



And here are Janae and I, preparing for a full day of eating and relaxing...



In the late morning, disaster struck - a blackout while the turkey was in the oven!! The power stayed out for an hour or two, but luckily the gas BBQ saved the day. Our hosts were impressively calm considering that about 15 guests were on their way!!

Here are the tables set and guests arriving...







And check out this awesome food... Americans LOVE their Thanksgiving!!











Us with Janae and Kelly...



And dessert!





Wayne with his helping of cream, which MAY have had some apple pie with it...



And here are some photos from the afternoon stroll Ben went on with some of the more energetic ladies...







The day after Thanksgiving is known as "Black Friday". Most people take this day off work as well, and make a four-day weekend of the festivities. Black Friday is known for incredible bargains and crazily crowded shops - to the point where people start lining up soon after midnight for shops that open as early as 4am, and we've been told that people have actually been killed by stampeding shoppers. Unbelievable!!

Thankfully, instead of shopping, Black Friday at Donna and Terry's consists of playing games and baking! :) I had just come down with a cold so stayed away from the baking, but Ben got right into the gingerbread house building and Christmas cookie decorating! Here he is with Jaclyn and Julia, and their mum, Tonya...























Late on Friday night, we decided we should go shopping after all, so that we could say we've experienced "Black Friday"! So Donna took Ben and I shopping from 9pm until the shops closed at 11pm! By then the crowds had gone (along with the most common clothing sizes), so we had quite a pleasant experience! We only hit Target and Macy's, but each of us found a couple of nice things. :)

The next day, Saturday, we spent a few more hours relaxing and enjoying wonderful company before it was time to head home for Ben's work Christmas party. Before we left, I had a go on the old gospel meeting pedal organ they have - it folds up into a box with a handle to carry it about!







So, after three nights and two and a half days, our American Thanksgiving came to an end. (And to think we were impressed when our Canadian Thanksgiving took 9 hours!!) We had a wonderful time and definitely hope to repeat the experience if we're still here at that time next year. THANK YOU DONNA AND TERRY!!!!

More Thanksgiving photos are in our Oct-Nov '09 Picasa album.