This year Leslie, Amanda and I rented a flat in the 8th District. It was a pretty large flat with two floors and a good sized kitchen which made it nice for our all day cook-a-thon on Monday. We actually made two pies on Sunday evening and then two more Monday morning and then got the turkey in the oven by like 2 in order to have it ready for the girls to come at 6:30.
Jodi had ordered the turkey from the market about 3 weeks before I came so Amanda and I picked it up on Saturday as the market was closed on Sunday on Monday. We left the turkey in the refrigerator at Jodi's on Saturday and then I had to get it Sunday afternoon and get back to the hotel where the owner of the flat picked us up at 2 on Sunday afternoon. It was a little hilarious as when he came to get us, my friend Hajni was there to help me with 6 large suitcases, two small carry on suitcases, a duffle, a bag and a turkey. I think he thought we were a little massively overpackers - but he was from England so I think he got us a little more than a Hungarian would :) On top of that, he, thank God, had a Chrysler minivan instead of a typical Hungarian car so we had plenty of room for all the bags - in fact, we could have probably fit more in if we had wanted. It was actually a great thing to have him pick us up - I'll probably look at renting his flat again for that very reason. On top of that, he was an extremely nice guy and the flat was very nice.
So - Monday, we spent the day cooking and then the girls started coming over about 6:15/6:30 pm. We had turkey, gravy, mashed potatos. We always introduce them to sweet potatos as they're not used to them and don't really know what they are. We bring the makings for green bean casserole with us, real Stove Top Stuffing :). I totally, and sadly, forgot the cranberry sauce - :( I always have to bring the pumpkin and evaporated milk and spices with me. I'm a cheat and usually bring the boxed mix for pie crust with - saves so much time. There was one year that I forgot and I had to do it from scratch so I can do it - I just chose not to :) As usual - they loved everything and even went back for seconds - thats when you know that the Hungarian girls think its good because they wouldn't usually do seconds.
There were 21 of us total this year - actually I think 23 but two had to leave early. Michelle, Flora and Brittni are on staff and then there was Leslie and Amanda and myself - but the rest were all girls that we work with. A few of them were girls that we had just met that week. Hajni is my friend from 7 years ago. Reka is a friend that I met through a friend Andi three years ago.
This year, as I had help, I had a little more time to concentrate on how to make it more concentrated Thanksgiving. So - I had them all think of one person and one thing that they were thankful for and they had to share what they were and why they were thankful for them. It did take a while with so many of us, but it was worth it to hear what everyone thought and we ended up being able to share our faith through our thankfulness. It was pretty cool.
Most of the girls started leaving about 9/9:30 since it was a Monday night, but some of them did hang around until 10 or so.
BEFORE.....
My two new Ezsters.... I met them the first evening of our dorm outreach... They're both freshman and its horrible, but they're roommates - yes, they put Ezster and Ezster together :) Which - I have to point out that the dorm that the Ezsters live in was about an hour and a half from the flat we had Thanksgiving at. I hated that it was so far, but it was so awesome that they wanted to be with us so much that they came and then stayed until 9 or so and then went all the way back to their dorm and still had to study.
Diana and Andrea have been coming to Thanksgiving for about 4 years. Diana is a believer and Andrea has been doing Bible studies with Flora.
HAPPY HUNGARIAN THANKSGIVING! :)
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