Thanksgiving Recap

**Note - this one is mostly just for a record of our first Thanksgiving in Singapore.  Not much to see here.

Thanksgiving 2011 has definitely been one to remember.  We started the day in a doctor's office, and we closed it out by attacking our refrigerator with a hair dryer.  Thanksgiving might as well be synonymous with tradition, and we managed to fit a bit of that in, too.

B2 arrived home after 10 days in London only to be greeted with a text that said, "B3 is throwing up.  Welcome to Thanksgiving.".  He shouldn't have been surprised; someone is sick everytime my immediate family gathers together.  Every Time, Every Holiday.  Ahh, the memories.  His symptoms looked an awfully lot like Strep, so we visited a doctor to have him checked out.  Since it was a holiday, we made a family outing of it.  B3 and AK wandered over to a mall to wait on us, and AK decided that a mac and cheese lunch was just what she needed.  I've heard some families wouldn't celebrate Thanksgiving without macaroni and cheese, so I suppose she started her own tradition. 

The bus ride home was a thrill for AK and B3; it was a double decker, which is the ultimate ride if you're under 6 (or 40.  Right, Alicia?)   Unfortunately, B2 was struggling with jet lag, and I must have had sympathy sleepiness.  A dose of Motrin revived B3, and he showed no signs of his persistent lethargy.  Two hyper kids in the front upstairs seats probably made for a less than enjoyable ride for the other passengers, but we finally made it home about an hour after a taxi would have brought us home. 

While we always look forward to Thanksgiving, the traditional pumpkin and cranberry aren't our favorites. We're looking for dressing and gravy and strawberry pretzel salad.  We compromised with dressing for us and cranberry sauce for the kids.  There was no strawberry pretzel salad; while we could certainly have eaten the entire thing between us, it was a better choice to wait until Christmas when there are others to help us enjoy it.  I couldn't bring myself to buy a $40 turkey breast, and my source for cheaper ones ($15 - much cheaper!) has been out of stock for weeks.  So. our meal was roasted chicken, dressing, gravy, fresh green beans and cranberry sauce shaped like the can it was in. Simple and delicious.  AK ate her share of all of it and went back for Ben's and my portion of cranberry sauce.  She loves it!

After dinner, the moment AK has looked forward to for months finally arrived.  She got to help her dad put up the Christmas tree!  Its ornaments will be added tomorrow, but both she and B3 were absolutely thrilled to see it shining before they went to bed. 

Since our fridge has been creating a river of water across our kitchen floor for about 2 weeks and I wasn't ambitious enough to fix it myself while B2 was travelling, we decided to tackle it after the kids were in bed. A quick google search pointed to the problem, and we got to work unloading the fridge, only to discover that the problem spot wasn't accessible from the inside panel.  So, we refilled the fridge and pulled it out from the wall.  Ben figured out the problem was an iced up drainage hole in the freezer, so the hair dryer joined in on the fun.  After at least an hour of Ben mopping up water while I was de-icing, the drain was unplugged, and we were in business.  Until he opened the fridge again.  It was flooded. There was standing water in the door shelves, and everything was completely soaked.  Once again, everything had to be emptied and dried before we could call it quits.  Over two hours after we started, we were finally done. 

While it isn't the Thanksgiving we would have planned, it was a good day.  B3 didn't have Strep after all; it's probably viral and we're hoping he's much better tomorrow.  We've got lots of Motrin to keep his energy up, just in case we need it.  AK loved the "Thanksgiving food" and her wholehearted appreciation for the cranberry sauce made whatever price I paid for it completely worthwhile (I didn't eat any, and I don't intend to!).  The dressing was delicious, and it reminds me of many family meals when we've enjoyed that same recipe around tables from Frog Pond to Charlotte (and even one Christmas dinner for Mexican friends in Orizaba).  The fridge is fixed (we hope), and our tile floor was more than accomodating of the floodwaters. 
 
We end the day thankful for what we have and where we are!