A Grateful Thanksgiving

...pretend I posted this on Friday as that's when I wrote it and now I'm a little lazy on Sunday to update the details... :P

Things I am most grateful for this Thanksgiving: Love & Technology. :)

We feel so blessed for the joy each of you brings to our lives and we are lucky that even though we are far away by distance you are incredibly close in our hearts. I love that technology enables us to stay closely connected while we are abroad and especially during family holidays, which I find are the hardest times to be away from the ones you love. I'm beyond grateful for each and every email, adorable eCard, photo like / comment, blog comment and FaceTime / Skype date! We felt so loved this Thanksgiving. Thank you!

Obviously, I dressed the little man up for Thanksgiving as ~80% of my daily entertainment involves dressing up / role playing with my son. :)

Love from our little Butterball

 Other than that, unfortunately, our Thanksgiving was pretty "non-traditional." In Basel, it was the opening night of the Christmas Market! Get excited! This is no ordinary Black Friday affair. While the wifely thing to do would've been to stay home and cook my husband a magnificent Thanksgiving feast upon his return home from work, he agreed to be a great husband and give me a little evening to myself. (I know the fact that it was Thanksgiving wasn't ideal, but we're doing a mini Turkey, aka. Chicken, dinner tonight. :) ) I heard that the opening ceremony of the Christmas Market was not to be missed.

While Matt took on bath time and bed time duties, I headed into the center. Up at Munsterplatz (site of the Ferris Wheel during Herbstmesse), was the opening. When I arrived the music had already started, the shops were lit up (but you couldn't buy anything yet), however, the tree was not lit nor were any of the lights on the trees or anything else. Plus, they had a stand setup with free baked treats plus hot cider or coffee. I grabbed a cookie (or two) and a hot cider and found myself a spot to view the stage and the shops.

Pre-lighting

A little before 7pm the carolers started. Then the President spoke and while we spoke all the lights from the shops went out. And while I didn't understand his German speech, I did understand when the countdown begun!

...drei, zwei, eins....!

I loved the carolers, all the lights and all the adorable little crafts & goodies. I don't know if it was the fact that it was Thanksgiving or the start of Christmas, but while I really enjoyed the ceremony, it also made me miss my family. So I headed back home for some hugs and many more thoughts of all of you.

Happy Thanksgiving! Let the Season of Giving continue! Lots of love.


p.s. WahooWa!!! :P

We're teaching him about disappointment early...