L'action de Grace

If I could have one meal right now, it would be - my dad's mashed carrots, parsnips and turnip, my mom's make ahead mashed potatoes with sour cream and green onions, Mrs. McBride's apple salad, and Dianne's deviled eggs, with heaps and heaps of stuffing and turkey and gray and green peas. MMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm


Thanksgiving is my very favourite holiday of all time. I just love everything about it. I love that there are no presents. I love that it is *less* commercial than the other holidays. I LOVE that it is just about getting together with the people you hold most dear and having an amazing meal and being thankful for all we have. It is perfect. Well....in Canada it was perfect.

You see, in Thailand you just can't get all the things you can in Canada. Oh of course it is lovely here, and of course it is cheap, but you can't really substitute bitter melon or zucchini for the celery in stuffing! And they just don't grow parsnips or turnips to mash up with carrots like my dad would do. Sigh. I spent all day Sunday walking around the market, and the shopping district, and the mall, in an attempt to find a pie plate and a pan big enough to roast my chicken...but I could not. They just don't bake things here! So I came home and laid on the floor under the air conditioner and cried for a while. I cried because some days I miss home, and I miss family, but mostly I cried because I just wanted to make it perfect! I wanted it to be just like home.

But then it occurred to me, that to be perfect does not mean that it has to be the same! So I have decorated my table with orange mums and yellow carnations instead of maple leaves, we will be drinking wine out of juice glasses - cause that's what we have, it's a chicken not a turkey, and I'm going to do my best to make stuffing in a wok. And at the end of the day - it will be yummy, and we will be all together, and it will surely be a barrel of laughs.

I know I will be laughing when the guys find out that their job is to whip the whipped cream by hand for the pie! hahaha

God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today.  Have you used one to say "thank you?"  
William A. Ward 


Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.  
W.T. Purkiser


Do not get tired of doing what is good.
Don't get discouraged and give up,
For we will reap a harvest of blessing at the appropriate time. 
Galatians 6:9


Lots of love
Pamela

p.s. If by some chance it turns out to be not yummy and not funny....we'll just tell our friend from Russia that this is how we do it in Canada and he won't know any different. HA!