Bringing Pumpkin Pie To the UK

Happy Thanksgiving Day...a day late.  I hope you all had a blessed day with your loved ones and lots of yummy food.

I sure did!

Nathan actually went to work all day, since Thanksgiving Day is not celebrated here in the UK.  To everyone here it was just your typical Thursday.  The kids and I didn't go anywhere since I was working on our feast all day, and I think that was probably a good thing.  It would have been weird to me to be out and about without so much as a hint of it being a holiday.  Nathan spent the better part of the day trying to describe/explain pumpkin pie to everyone at work.  They have never had it before...whaaaaat???  (No worries, I baked an extra one so Nathan could take it to work Friday.  No one should EVER have to live without pumpkin pie.)  Which I found so hard to believe, but it may explain the trouble we had finding canned pumpkin.

We looked at about 4 or 5 different grocery stores, including ASDA (aka the UK's version of Wal-Mart) and no canned pumpkin could be found.  Even the one store who's website said they carried it didn't have any.  Now, I had resigned to the fact that we would probably be having roasted chicken instead of turkey (more on that debacle in a minute).  However, I was NOT going to be able to have Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie.  It's just, well, it's just UN-AMERICAN!!!

Soooooo...

...Amazon.com to the rescue!!!

I kid you not, we ordered canned pumpkin on Amazon.  It was SO worth it though.

After some searching we finally had canned pumpkin.  Next challenge was to find a turkey.  We knew that in the UK it is a custom to have turkey for Christmas dinner.  So, we just assumed the grocery stores would start putting them out for Christmas by the time we needed one for Thanksgiving Day.  WRONG!!!  Then last week Nathan heard that you have to get them from "country stores", aka farms.  You order them and they kill it and get it to you in time for Christmas.  On Monday Nathan was researching this option to see if it was even possible to get one in such short notice.  I happened to be taking the kids to a little grocery store near our flat that day.  Dylan, as he ALWAYS does at this one particular grocery store, managed to throw a HUGE tantrum.  As I pulled him to one of the back corners of the store to try and talk him down, I noticed in the bottom shelf back in the corner of the freezer section there were...TURKEYS!!!!  I could not believe it.  I have never been so thankful for one of Dylan's tantrums in my life!

I have never roasted a turkey before, true story.  I've watched my dad, the master turkey chef, do it a hundred times.  However, each time I was so thankful that the turkey wasn't MY job.  It turns out it wasn't so terrible.  I didn't enjoy the before so much, but in the end it was edible and that my friends is all that matters! 

               Before                                                          After

Leah wanted to help make some of the food.  I decided that deviled eggs were probably the safest one she could assist with.

 

She was so proud of herself!  She even "cut" the green onions.  We saw this scissor and cup cutting technique on one of the children's cooking shows here. 

She did a great job!  They were absolutely delicious!!!  I just love that she wants to help me so much with things in the kitchen.  I hope that desire continues when she is older.

Also joining our feast was this turkey...

I got the idea from Pinterest.  The kids LOVED it, and it was so simple to do.

This is what my plate (well, my first plate any way) looked like...

It was a lot of work, but it was so worth it.  Everything turned out great and most importantly I was able to carry on the tradition of Thanksgiving even while living in a place that doesn't celebrate it.  Holidays are so important to me.  I have always loved them.  Good food, great family, tons of amazing memories, what's not to love?  We did miss our families VERY much.  Thanks to the awesome technology of today we were able to talk to most of them on video chat the day before and day of Thanksgiving.  This was a tremendous help for both the kids and myself.  I have been telling the kids that it's okay to miss everyone and even be a little sad, but that we need to really enjoy this holiday.  We will probably never spend Thanksgiving in the UK again so it is important to make the best of it and have fun.  I think we accomplished that.

We managed to put together some lovely decorations, since we couldn't just go to the store and buy some.  The kids made hand turkeys to set on the table.  You might notice in the picture of the table that there is only one on the table.  Dylan decided his looked more like a rocket ship and proceeded to use it as such, which resulted in a demolished turkey.  I didn't much mind, it totally kept him busy and out of my way while I was cooking all day, and he had a ton more fun with it than he would have if it had been sitting on the table looking pretty.

Here are the hand turkeys before the demolition began...

I did purchase a table covering and napkins in red and gold that I thought would work for Thanksgiving colors.  While the kids were napping I put those on the table.  We also made a "thankful chain", which you can see hanging by the window.  Everyday Leah and Dylan each told me one thing they were thankful for and I would write them each on a piece of paper which we then strung together to make a chain.  It's so fun to hear what their sweet little hearts are thankful for.  Of course there was the "Jesus and God" chain link, but there was also a "Mona Lisa" link, as well as a "dinosaurs" link in our chain.  It was great fun and definitely a tradition that will continue in our house for years to come.

Here's what the kiddos did all day while I was cooking and Nathan was at work...

I built a fort for them to hang out in.

I was also a "bad mom" and let them use the iPad WAY too much.

As most of you already know this was Grant's first Thanksgiving.

He was pretty excited about it.

He's so precious.  I just love him to pieces!!!

He gnawed on some turkey, mashed potatoes, a roll, and some green beans.  It was a lot of fun watching him enjoy his first Turkey Day!

Leah and Dylan broke the wish bone.

I'm pretty sure I know what they were both wishing for and in 20 "short" days we can grant that wish!!!

That my friends is how you do Thanksgiving in the UK.  Happy belated Thanksgiving to you all!  I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday weekend!  Thanks for reading about ours!