Since no one, except other Americans, celebrates Thanksgiving here in China, we obviously don't have any change in our schedule for the holiday. So we've decided to stretch the celebrating into two days instead of just one! That way, we can more easily get together to celebrate with people on Friday, when most of the folks in our group have greater flexibility to skip out of work or school early. Today, our actual Thanksgiving Thursday, we had some fun family time. I ran errands with the kids in the morning, getting a cold start on our three wheeler, but with the battery fully charged this time! We made it to the International School library and playground and then to our favorite chicken place to buy a rotisserie chicken for dinner. I tried shopping at a local market for plain colored t-shirts for everyone (we were going to paint turkey hand prints on them), but couldn't find them anywhere and finally gave up! What I wouldn't give for a Super Target and a package of Hanes. . . The clothes shopping here is super cheap, but much more like a garage sale, where you just have to sort through a stack of clothes laying on a table and then guess at the sizing, as it is normally different from our US sizing.
This evening we did a craft from our Thanksgiving craft book that showed us how to use our hands as a pattern for a turkey, then use the patterns to cut out cookie dough. We got the cookies baked and plan to decorate them with icing tomorrow (a special treat, as powdered sugar is hard to come by!). The kids had a blast, and Kevin and I were entertained by the conversation. We asked them each to think about a few things they were thankful for, and here are their responses:
- Karis: "My new friend, Adah."
- Eli: "That we had fish. They are dead now, but we did have fish." (we got two goldfish at a market, Dori and Marlin, who survived for about a month. not bad, considering the Chinese tap water in the bowl they were inhabiting!)
- Hudson: "Baseball fields." (Of which we have seen not one since we've been here in China! So show you how the mind of a two year old works!)
- Noah was surprising quiet :)
