Thanksgiving in Abu Dhabi

I'm with my chef helpers getting ready to cook.

Even though we are thousands of miles away, we were still able to partake of the wonderful American holiday of Thanksgiving.  Meredith still had school but Regan and Jane had the day off (since it is an American school).  I planned on keeping Meredith home but she *really* wanted to go.  It was both her teachers last day (her teacher is sadly moving to Saudi Arabia this week) *and* it was Teddy Bear Picnic Day.  So she opted to go anyway even though the rest of us would be home all day.  Jake still had work but he left a little early so we could be at our friends' house by 5ish for an early big, traditional Thanksgiving dinner.

We have gotten to know a wonderful family here through church and school and they graciously hosted us for Thanksgiving on Thursday evening.  Eric and Nicole have three little boys bookended by our four girls - so all very close in age.  Another family from school joined (with three kids our kids' ages) as did a few folks from Eric's work.  All is all we had 10 kids aged 7 and under.

The Fairmont provided our turkey

Fairmont turkey

My first homemade rolls (after they
had risen twice and before they
went into the oven)

Nicole and I divvied up the food but she had more of a workload since she was hosting it at their house.  We did outsource the turkey.  The Fairmont hotel had a service where you could get an American style turkey to go.  Given all everyone has going on (Eric and Nicole are new to Abu Dhabi, too), it was a great call to have The Fairmont do the hard work with the turkey.  They did forget to put the cranberry sauce in but other than that, they did a great job.  We had all the usual fixins (stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, etc.).  I made homemade rolls for the first time.  They turned out pretty well but I'll experiment a little with the recipe next time as I think they could have been a little better.  I also made some of my sister-in-law's wonderful recipes (chocolate pecan pie, buttermilk maple sytrup sweet potatoes and a great date appetizer recipe).  I also made a green bean recipe that an old friend in San Francisco served for Thanksgiving many years ago that has become a staple recipe for us.

The kids' table (5 of the 10 kids pictured)

Nicole did a great job with all her dishes - yum!  And she did it despite a late night trip to the ER due to almost slicing her finger off the night before making a pie.  Her finger will be okay but it was a traumatic experience - especially when they left the first ER due to just not feeling like she was going the get the care she needed.  We're so sorry she had to go through that but we're thankful that if she learned something about ERs, it was not when she had a kid with a real emergency.  So that was the real drama around our first Thanksgiving here.

Thanksgiving #1 adult table

We also weren't able to have a pumpkin pie.  Supposedly Abu Dhabi gets one shipment of canned pumpkin and it comes in October.  So if you want a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving or for Christmas, you buy up the pumpkin when you can in October or you miss your chance (we clearly missed our chance but lesson learned for next year!).

All in all a great time was had with new friends and lots to be thankful for over here.

And then a bit unexpectedly, we had a second Thanksgiving dinner on Friday night.  Jake had been invited for a gathering with some American coworkers but he thought they were gathering on Thursday and we already had plans.  But on Thursday, he realized it was the next day.  So we scrambled for a sitter (this one was an adult gathering) and headed over for Thanksgiving #2.  Another really nice (and very different!) time was had.

This dinner was at a coworker's high rise apartment with a beautiful view over the water.  I was able to meet many of Jake's coworkers and be able to relax and enjoy vs. running around getting food ready and looking after kids.  An equally impressive spread and fun times.  One of Jake's Emirates coworkers came with lots of Arabic food and it was a great experience getting to talk to him and ask lots of questions.  Jake works with a very impressive group of people and I was so glad to get to meet them.  And even though it was all Americans there (except of one), it's still a very international group of people with family ties in many places that it also reminded me of the wonderful melting pot that the U.S. is.

Thumbs up all around.

Thankful for new friends, the health of our dear girls, Jake's job,  our experience here and many, many other blessings in our life right now.

Ending with Thanksgiving art work from Regan and Jane (again, since Meredith is not at an American preschool, she didn't make crafts commemorating what is really only a holiday for Americans).

School crafts by Regan (left) and Jane (right)