Thanksgiving day here in London was just another day.  Richard went to work, I took the kids to school.  I was feeling pretty glum about it, wishing I was in a home full of people with delicious foods baking and taunting, football watched and played, and between dinner preparations periods of pure laziness.  My house was quiet, there was nothing baking, and it didn’t feel like Thanksgiving at all.  It was definitely my most homesick day up to this point.  It made me think a lot about missionaries, and how hard it must be to be away from family. I at least still had the company of Richard and the kids, and they say misery loves company. 

The day went from bad to worse when I got a flat tire on the way home from picking up Simon from school.  Getting a flat tire here was a highly stressful experience in and of itself.  When I realized it, there was no place to pull over, there aren’t many parking lots and the streets are so narrow and busy that there just isn’t space to stop moving.  Finally I got away from the busy road and a man helped me park out of the traffic.  Then he wished me luck and went on his merry way.  There was no spare tire in the car (they try to make them as small as possible, essentials only) and I couldn’t leave the car there because it was illegally parked.  The car is also a rental, so anything we do has to be done through KPMG and the rental agency. Fortunately Richard came to the rescue and I came home and felt sorry for myself the rest of the day.  

Fortunately we planned our big Thanksgiving feast for Saturday, and invited the two missionary couples/companionships from our ward over to enjoy it with us.  I was so nervous about cooking a turkey and making gravy that I did a practice turkey and a practice gravy.  (Ironically, the practice turkey turned out better than the real turkey.) It was really hard to make a proper Thanksgiving feast with the resources and ingredients I have here.  I couldn’t make a graham cracker crust, so I improvised with Belvita biscuits.  I didn’t have my pie tins, or a roasting pan, or a few other kitchen utensils.  I couldn’t get jello for rainbow jello, and there were a few other things that I’ve already forgotten were missing  But all in all it turned out really delicious and we had good company.