Loving this world, seeing the beauty in everything. Appreciating every moment as a beautiful, wholly contained, pearl of eternal nature, this is the world to me. A never ending string of pearls…. every moment is in and of it’s self a life time, and when we have affection and let ourselves experience life without expectation… that is when the majesty of the world opens her petals to us… And welcomes us home. ~ Carlos Castaneda Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday. I could forgo the turkey; it’s all about the stuffing, potatoes, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. And friendship, of course! My best Thanksgivings have been as an ex-pat (a quarter of my life!). There is something about celebrating the holiday abroad that makes it more meaningful than a day to stuff oneself silly and watch football interspersed with commercials encouraging people to buy, buy, buy. I remember a Thanksgiving in Berlin with Chris and Alex. What a treat to share the day with our German friends! I celebrated Thanksgiving a month early during my last year in Berlin, a traditional dinner in a cute little house in the middle of charming Dahlia. I spent Thanksgiving that year in the former Soviet Union, eating questionable meat and stringy ice cream, grateful to be there - and grateful that a friend had prepared the special meal before my trip. Nothing quite compares to my Thanksgivings in Nicaragua, though. My first year here, we got an invite to Ricardo’s Thanksgiving Dinner (hosted by a German and Austrian) I remember how excited Rob was when he was invited to carve the turkeys and Donovan (Donn Wilson’s son) and I jockeyed for first position in the dessert line. I wasn’t going to miss out on the pumpkin pie! The next few years, we hosted Thanksgiving dinner at El Gato Negro, which was always fun with 70 plus people, but work because I was always in charge of the turkeys. We had a lovely Thanksgiving one year with the Wilsons at their ranch at Las Haciendas, with chicken on the rotisserie and horseback rides before dinner. Michelle and Austin hosted several lovely, legendary dinners. Christian and Claire prepared a gourmet feast (including popovers with goose fat and Strongbow cider!) one year. Last year I prepared dinner and delivered it to Ometepe, making the ten minute uphill hike a few times before all of the food was transported to the table. This year, we rented a house to accommodate all of the families that are now part of the celebration. I counted 19 kids (all 8 and under), but I may have missed a couple. Even though I am not a parent, I appreciated the children’s presence. At one point, I had Johnny Joe in his baby carrier in the kitchen with me, explaining to him the ins and outs of preparing Thanksgiving dinner. As I put the wine in the refrigerator, I informed him it would be a few more years before he could drink and that Aunt Vanessa would be arriving soon with her own wine glasses and we would not laugh at her for that, at which point Johnny Joe laughed. Yep, definitely an Indigo child! Max and Dante asked to hold Johnny Joe, so I sat them all on the couch and placed Johnny Joe in Max’s arms. I wanted to cry as I watched the two boys snuggle and fawn all over their little friend. The Lucy and Liam made eyes at each other, Alejandro played hide and seek with me and Millie shared her new vocabulary. It was a perfect, beautiful day and I will always treasure the feelings I had while looking around at my beautiful circle of friends, grateful for our experience as expats that brought us together this day and every day. No one understands me the way my friends here can. We all have divergent backgrounds; our common thread is living in Nicaragua, an experience that has changed us all (hopefully for the better!) and something that no one can really appreciate without living here. I am looking forward to next year, my first Thanksgiving at Harmonia with friends new and old! I love you all. Thank you for being a special part of my life and my extended family.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Dec 2014 21:05:07 +0000
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