Denny and I are overseas loving China, however we also have our homesick days. I was very determined that we wouldn’t forget Thanksgiving, so Denny and I hosted Thanksgiving for the first time as a family. I am so glad we did! Below I laid out easy decorations, recipes, traditions and games.

Pre-planning:

Invitations were made for our co-workers. Leaves were hung from the windows with care.

These decorations are simple and easy to make. Gather fall leaves, laminate them and hole-punch near the end and off to the side of the stem’s leaf.

Pine cones were scattered just for others to admire. The 13 pound turkey, baking pans, coconut milk, apple juice and mushroom soup were bought at Metro. Fresh potatoes, pumpkin, walnuts, and green beans were bought at the local market and prepared beforehand.

Our kitchen is tiny, so I pre-planned. I asked guests to bring a few items to help in the festivities: sweet potatoes, bacon-wrapped sausages, bread, salad, brownies, napkins and ice-cream.

Prepping:

Food

Potatoes were mashed and buttered.

• Recipe: boil 10 potatoes, 1 cup of Irish butter and pepper and salt to taste

Sweet potatoes were mashed, buttered, and stirred with coconut milk.

• Recipe: boil 10 sweet potatoes, 1 cup irish butter, 1/2 can of coconut milk, 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Green Beans were washed, french cut, cooked and baked. Find the dairy-free green bean casserole here. 

French cutting the green beans. Cut the green beans at a 45 degree angle. [Pie crust, potatoes de-frosting, and green beans]

Almonds were chopped.

Walnuts were crushed by my loving husband’s hands for the pie’s crust. Find the primal crust recipe here. 

A pumpkin was baked and pumpkin filling was made. Find the dairy-free primal pumpkin filling recipe here.  

Last minute apple cider was made (due to a guest being in the hospital, they are better now). I put apple juice and two teaspoons of cinnamon in a tea kettle. The intended apple cider recipe can be found here. 

A turkey was loved, stuffed, tied and (as my husband likes to say) “elbow dropped” into our small oven. Learn to cook a turkey here.

As world travelers one must squish a baking pan in order to fit it into a small Chinese oven.

I was wondering how we were going to fit a 13 pound turkey of love in that small Chinese oven, but my husband did it.

The Story

 Many Chinese people ask why do American’s celebrate Thanksgiving? Denny and I wanted to answer that question fully. This link explains in simple terms why we celebrate Thanksgiving in America. This other link goes further into detail the history. In summary, we take a day to honor God and thank Him for our many blessings.

My husband is an amazing leader.

Our guests listening to the story behind Thanksgiving.

Games and New Traditions

I prepped for two games and found a new tradition for my family.

1. I am thankful for… We went around the room naming up to 5 things we were thankful for this year.
2. Who am I? On little pieces of paper write out Thanksgiving theme words and then tape the word to each guest’s forehead without them seeing the word. Have the guest guess the word with yes or no questions. (Note, choose easier words if your playing with foreigners. They might not know the word “acorn”. )
3. Jordan’s version of charades There are three rounds and two teams (every other person) to this game. Have each person write a word or phrase on a piece of paper. Each round ends when there are no more words in the hat/bowl.

• Round 1: (1 minute) Act the word out.
•  Round 2: (15 seconds) Like Taoboo you say every word describing that word except the word.
• Round 3 (10 seconds) You say one word to describe the word on the paper.

The Party:

The women taught me how to play Turtle, a Chinese card game. (Left to right: Fiona, Sophie, Sophia and Vicky)

Our 2012 American-Chinese turkey.

My Chinese friends are so funny!

MADE IN CHINA: My friend was our fire detector. Our electrical cord we bought in the local marketplace smoked our living room.

The meal

Five Things I learned from having Thanksgiving in China: