Thanks everybody for your kind words on my post yesterday. I got the papers back and the head teacher has given us an approved absence to celebrate Thanksgiving!  I knew I liked her!! It just shows I need to have patience before I get myself worked up.  I still believe this rule needs to be given more thought though. Thinking back on past Thanksgivings abroad and at home just reminds me of how much I love this season.  
I know so many people that get upset about Christmas overtaking Thanksgiving in America. I get that, but I like to look at it from a different perspective.  Yes, I'm already listening to Christmas music and watching sappy Christmas movies (LOVE them!).  I'm not decorating yet, but I have in the past when time did not allow to do it the day after Thanksgiving (that's my Christmas decorating day!).
For me, it is one long celebration that compliments one another.  I might be listening to Christmas music and watching my sappy Christmas movies, but Thanksgiving isn't forgotten.  It's just kicking off the season!!
So how about you?  Do you celebrate Thanksgiving as an expat? If you're in America, in what ways are you celebrating this year?

What a crazy few days we've had!!  Early in the Thanksgiving week I notified my kid's teachers that they would be out for Accion de Gracias (Thanksgiving).  Wednesday they had a field trip to a local theater.  I was excited for them to get to go.  What a fun way for them to finish up the week before their holiday.
Because of needing to do a bunch of cooking and cleaning I had arranged for the kids to eat lunch at school.  I had cleaned about half the house when I got a call, early afternoon, that Karis had a temperature and chills and they asked if I could come get her.

She had hardly eaten any lunch and one of the lunch break monitors was laying down in a room with her.  She did not look like she felt well at all, poor girl!  I got her all comfy on the couch watching a movie while I got back to cleaning before Brennan & Reegan got home.
That evening we were welcoming our dear colleague/friends from Prague, the James'.  They were here for the guys to do some work and to celebrate the holiday with us.

We had planned on joining thirty-something of our Madrid colleagues for Thanksgiving and figured we were going to have to change our plans, which we did.  Karis continued to have a fever and did for 3 days.   Thank the Lord and Lysol that no one else got it.  Seeing as Jerry practically used it as a cologne!  Ha!!  And now he's sick with his own thing, go figure!

We threw a very last minute feast together.  I was already in the process of making cornbread dressing and the good thing about living in another country on Thanksgiving is all the stores are open!!  The guys headed to the store and got some roasted chickens while us ladies got to work!  The only thing I really missed was having sweet potatoes. I've seen them, I just forgot them!  How could I when it's one of my favorites!!  Oh well.  We'll remedy that for Christmas!  Otherwise we had a nice little feast of chicken, dressing, green bean casserole, rolls and mock cranberry sauce.  What is our mock cranberry sauce you ask??  Why, lingonberry sauce from IKEA!  It's a great substitute!
We finished off the meal with pumpkin crumble, which was such a breeze to make last minute!  The rest of the day was just spent relaxing and catching up with old friends!

 By Saturday Karis was feeling better, but unfortunately the temperatures outside started to dip and no one was really up for braving the cold, plus our friends hadn't brought much in the way of cold weather gear.  So what did we do? Why headed to Starbucks, of course!!  The Starbucks in our town has some of those little kiddie rides that you pay a euro.  My kids have just as much fun climbing around on them without paying any money.  So, the kids played while the parents sipped away on their Starbucks drink of choice!

This was one of those weekends where I got to chatting away so much that the camera was just about forgotten.  I did get a few our last day together!


I took them to the airport this morning.  We were sad to see them go!  But, it's time to get back to life as normal!  Hope you all had a very blessed Thanksgiving!

Birthday season is about to begin at our house!  So Friday we went to a party store and pick out plates, napkins and such for their birthdays.  We then met up with some friends for dinner at the mall.  We had an after dinner show of a water fountain set to music.  We watched the water "dance" to the beat of "Eye of the Tiger!"  It was so fun!  The kids loved it and were clapping!!  I should have gotten a picture, but I got caught up in the moment and the camera was forgotten!  It's funny as I sat there thinking about how we respond to things, as Americans, as opposed to how Czechs respond to things.  We might be enjoying something at the same level, but I am wearing my enjoyment on my face.  I'm smiling, laughing, talking.  The Czechs around us sat and watched hardly cracking a smile.  I'm sure it makes me stand out like the American that I am!  Well, and add to the fact that my kids are running around and LOUDLY speaking English!  Ha!!

I had boiled some eggs on Friday in preparation to color Easter eggs.  So we got them out on Saturday and went to work decorating our eggs.  Some friends had given us some left over decorating kits, so we had a good assortment of supplies!  We had a sports theme, some beads and various dye colors.  The kids loved the beads, even Brennan!  Ha!

On Sunday Bridge Community hosted an Easter egg hunt.  Complete with a visit from the Easter bunny!!


 Our Easter meal consisted of McDonalds and I had Thai!  How traditional!  Ha!   We went home for a short time and then headed to church that evening.
On a side note, our Sunday Gathering has lost our meeting place and right before Easter!!  At the last minute the hotel we were using decided not to renew our contract.  So, now we wait to see what God is going to do!  We have some leads, but it will take time to look into!  We are very fortunate that our organization has an office space with a meeting room, so we do have something to fall back on!  That is a huge blessing, but only a temporary solution. 

In the Czech Republic Easter Monday is celebrated.  Sadly, this is a bigger day than Easter Sunday due to the many years of communist influence.  It's more of a celebration of the beginning of Spring.  We can go all over the city seeing signs of Easter.  Bunnies, eggs, Easter trees, the Easter Market set up on the squares and even sticks (more on that in a minute)!  An area of rich protestant heritage with the movement of Jan Hus, but there is very little celebration of Christ now.

Due to our busy day on Sunday I was really feeling the loss of an Easter dinner.  Really not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but I desired it greatly. So, with only a few days of preparation we threw together a quick dinner with a few friends on Easter Monday.  I tell ya, I got so caught up in chatting that the camera was forgotten again!  Ha!  But it was a fun time.  Oh, I was able to get a photo of the awesome carrot cake I made (is that tootin' my own horn or what?!  Ha!).  I went on  a hunt for just the right Easter dessert and decided to go check out the Pioneer Woman's awesome recipes.  Sure enough, Ree did not disappoint!  I knew from the title that this would be a good one.  It's titled Sigrid's Carrot Cake - Perfect for Easter!  If she says it's perfect for Easter than alright!  I left the pecans out since Karis is allergic.


Our friend Mary Ann stuck around after the meal and we finished up the night with some movies.  Nothing says "holiday" like watching movies!!  I've had so many friends telling me about Julie & Julia and how much I would like it.  They knew my love for cooking and blogging!!  So, I had to go buy it off ITunes.  We also got The Princess & the Frog.  I was really excited to buy this to show Karis that the princess can also have dark skin!  But, I was quite disappointed with the heavy theme of voodooism throughout the movie.  It's one thing to have a witch, like in Snow White or Sleeping Beauty, but this had much more of an evil feel to it and was a constant throughout.  That saddened me and reminded me how much more we need to review movies before buying.  Disney, how you have disappointed me!  There went $20 bucks!

Ok, back to the sticks, otherwise known as pomlázka.  Here is an explanation I found. 
The tradition dates back to pagan times.  Its original purpose and symbolic meaning is to chase away illness and bad spirits and to bring health and youth for the rest of the year to everyone who is whipped with the pussywillow twigs. Boys would whip girls lightly on the legs and possibly douse them with water, which had a similar symbolic meaning. An Easter carol, usually asking for an egg or two, would be recited by the boy while whipping. The girl would then reward the boy with a painted egg or candy and tie a ribbon around his pomlázka. As the boys progressed through the village, their bags filled up with eggs and their pomlázkas were adorned with more and more colorful ribbons.
This tradition is still largely upheld, especially in villages and small towns, although it may have lost its symbolism and romance and is now performed mainly for fun. Some boys and men seem to have forgotten that the whipping is supposed to be only symbolic and girls don't always like that. The reward has also changed - money and shots of plum brandy (slivovice) are often given instead of or in addition to painted eggs and candy. So by early afternoon, groups of happy men can be seen staggering along the roads... All that aside, Easter remains one of the most joyful holidays on the Czech calendar.
 We have not purchased a pomlázka in the past, so I decided it would be a great souvenir of our time in Prague and a reminder to pray for this country that so desperately needs Jesus!



I do hope you all had an enjoyable, Jesus-filled celebration!