Gobble Gobble!

 ¡Feliz Día de Acción de Gracias! (Happy Thanksgiving!)

This was my first holiday away from home...ever. I woke up Thursday morning really sad that 1. it didn't feel like Thanksgiving at all considering the temperature outside was 97 degrees and 2. not being with my family. But, I knew the holidays were going to be hard before I got on the plane to spend 10 months here. Also, my parents are coming to visit in less than a week. (YAY!) 

My morning started out with a yummy Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte. Complete with whipped cream and Pumpkin Pie drizzle (thanks to my awesome sister for sending me this stuff!)

I enjoyed the day with my team and Prospero and Leyla. We all cooked things that we love to eat on Thanksgiving: turkey (obviously!), dressing, macaroni and cheese, garden pea asparagus casserole, mashed potatoes (I have never had this on Thanksgiving. And come to think of it, I didn't eat any Thursday either!), green beans, gravy, homemade rolls, broccoli salad, seven layer salad, and butternut squash casserole (sweet potatoes are not the same here. And Ben did an awesome job cooking this new dish. It was actually my favorite thing I ate! Will be cooking this next year for my family!)

The Spread

In case you were wondering what my (first) plate looked like. Cute table cloth, huh?

Karly and the Foth's girls made everyone hats for the festive occasion. 

Indians and Pilgrims.

Indian Leyla and Pilgrim Prospero.   :) 

Cowboy (David) certainly was not going to be an Indian so he opted for the Pilgrim hat (to go on his cowboy hat?)

Indians! 

The team. The tree in the background is a Thankful Tree. For the past couple of weeks we have been writing things that we are thankful for.  Some things we are thankful for include: packages from home, our STINT team, Leyla and Prospero, students, meeting MLB players (ok, maybe that's just me and Karly?)

Farkle! 

Then we ate dessert! Leyla made Dominican flan which was absolutely fantastic! Nathan made a homemade pumpkin cheesecake that was also yummy!

Isn't it beautiful?!

I got to Skype with my family before they dug into their feast. It was so weird not being there with them. 

Friday night we had Thanksgiving Round Dos. It was just as delicious as the day before! We still had enough left over for each of us to take a togo plate. We helped the Foth's decorate their Christmas tree. Drank the best homemade hot chocolate I've ever had in my life! And watched the Polar Express. 

It's beginning to look a lot like Navidad around here! 

Thankful for you, 

Shannon 

P.S- Saturday night we hooked up the projector and "watched" the Carolina/Clemson game. The internet didn't do so well, but we caught most of it. GO GAMECOCKS!