Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Last year we spent the holiday in Barcelona - it was a nice get away. What a contrast to this year though - my friend Jenny & I hosted 17 people at her home! We had Americans from work, some American friends of Dan's and Tony's from the military, and an international mix of Italian, Swede, and German. We had a wonderful time and thanks to our friend, Mark, we were able to have turkey and all the trimmings from the Wiesbaden commissary (grocery story). We had a 20 lb. turkey, ham, green bean casserole, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberries - just to name a few of the usual suspects. Plus. I made pumpkin pie for the first time and I was amazed at how good it turned it - it was almost as good as my grandma's (I later learned that she has a secret ingredient that I must try next time).

A good time was had by all and I learned a thing or two in the kitchen from Jenny. Good times, good friends, good food. It's funny how we have our own little family of friends over here, too. We are extremely luckily and fortunate to have each other and that it what thanksgiving is all about - to be thankful for the family and friends!!

We missed our families of course, but it sounds like they had an enjoyable holiday, too. My family was over at Aunt Nancy's and Jason's good friends Cory & Amanda joined this year. Dan's family was up at Frankenmuth enjoying a German Thanksgiving. Funny considering that we enjoyed a true American Thanksgiving.

This weekend the Christmas market opened and Dan and I have already gone to Cologne and Frankfurt's. This is probably one of our favorite times in Germany. It's hard to describe what it is like because the US cannot create this experience even though I wish it could. There is booth after booth of food, spiced wine, ornaments, wooden hand made gifts, candles. It is so beautiful - usually there is a huge tree decorated, sometimes carolers, and just people standing around having a good time. Wiesbaden's opens on Tuesday night and they light the tree and open the ice skating rink. We plan to go. Then next weekend we will head to Bavaria to see Augsburg, Munich, and Wurzburg's Christmas markets. We are lucky with the weather this year - it was in the mid 55s this weekend making shopping more enjoyable!

The following weekend we have Christmas parties to attend in town and then we will be home! We are amazed that we will be home in less than three weeks now! Looking forward to seeing you all...