thanksgiving in the bush

Yes, Thanksgiving was a week ago. Better late than never? Sure, works for me.

The festivities started the night before, with a spaghetti feed at the church. During this event, one of the local mid-high girls found me and stayed by my side most of the night. The only time I wasn't attached to her, I had various kids, age 3-8, climbing all over me and otherwise enjoying a grown up playing with them. Lesson 1: Don't swing a kid around when there are other kids present. They will all want rides, and will say, "Again!" as soon as you set them down. I am just thankful that all the spaghetti stayed in their tummies.

After the meal was cleaned up, we headed upstairs for a prayer and worship service. From little boys being mutually thankful for their best friend sitting next to them to adults being grateful for the way God blesses this community, we shared from the heart.

The aforementioned mid-high girl, her sister, and two other friends from the community, were headed over to my place. Why? A sleepover, of course. I taught them how to play skip-bo, we had some soda, watched a movie, and stayed up till 2 am giggling.

The next morning, the phone rang. It wasn't even 7 am yet. I rolled out of bed, aware that the girls were waking up, and tried to piece together some consciousness. First step: make coffee. "Oh, my mom lets me have coffee! Can I have some?" One of the girls pipes up. Well naturally, if I give her coffee, I have to give ALL the girls coffee, even if some of them dont get it very often. Whatever, it can be a treat, I think to myself as I serve them all small cups of coffee.

The big happening out here was the turkey bowl. We had a couple inches of fresh snow to cover the week's mud, which was a perfect setting for the first annual turkey bowl. What, you don't have turkey bowls where you come from? Well, let me enlighten you. Its an epic battle, from one side to the other. Passing, catching, running, tackling... ok, you are SUPPOSED to pull flags. But we found the most effective way to grab a flag was when the opponent was pinned to the ground. Thats right, its flag football in the bush! Complete with a hand carved trophy for the winning team. My team didn't win, but we had fun playing.

The big meal happened at my boss's house. They open their house to members of the community who can't go home for Thanksgiving, in addition to their large family. This year, the crowd numbered about 50 people. I am told that it was a small quiet crowd for a holiday meal at their place. I looked at all the tables set up, wondering where anyone else would sit.

All in all, it was a great holiday!