Gobble.

This Thanksgiving, we cooked up a fine meal of mashed potatoes and green bean casserole, just a couple of the essentials that were easier than others to mimic from a foreign grocery store. Of course the green beans had Gouda on top instead of cheddar, and quite a sour version of sour cream, but our tastebuds approved overwhelmingly of the substitutions.

On our way to the grocery store today, we stopped in at the barn next door. We’d heard that they were a farm that used to be organic, but no longer is because, like in the US, organic is an expensive label you have to buy from the government. The farmers run a small, one room business off the side of their barn, with crates full of naturally raised offerings lining the periphery. We bought our produce there, a couple local meats and 10 liters of local, natural apple juice. The woman there was very friendly, making conversation throughout and offering us samples of each apple juice variety.

We left the store beyond content and in the proper Thanksgiving mood. Now as we sit here, the solitude of not gathering with family affords us a strange opportunity to sincerely reflect on the past year and the many things we are thankful for. Here is a random sprinkling of things that shaped our year and us, und dafuer sind wir dankbar:

Supportive, loving family and friends

The opportunity to live in Germany and explore

Michael Postzich and family

Education

Lutheran Volunteer Corps

L’Arche Tahoma Hope

Farms

Earth’s Bounty

People who engage us in stimulating, vital conversation

Pigs (Bryce: alive, Dan: cooked)

Crosswords

Hills

Bicycles

Jobs

Rain

USC’s Fall…

The restored health of loved ones and mere false alarms

The Oxford German Dictionary, holding strong since seventh grade

Skype

Homemade Meals

Loud singing, however poor

The ability to laugh and share laughter

Listening

Harry Potter not being too magical

A welcoming home and homes to come home to, should we ever need

Political change

In our blessed lives, we’ve surely missed many things, but these are a few of the thoughts we had today, emphasis on number one.

Love,

Bryce and Dan