So when you take away the friends & family, the football games, the really delicious food (turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole!!), what do you have left…still a whole lot of blessings and reasons to be thankful! This Thanksgiving sure was like no other…actually on Thanksgiving Day, the girls still had school and I was traveling in Guangzhou. So we moved our celebration to Saturday – trying to keep some of our traditions and celebrating Kelly’s birthday too! We put up our Christmas tree (more about this in a later post!), watched ‘Miracle on 34th Street’, and dined on pumpkin bread, white chicken chili and stuffing – it was one of the best meals since we arrived and tasted just like at home! Had to go to 5 different grocery stores to get all the ingredients – but it was worth it (although I’m pretty sure Mr. Xu thinks we are nuts sometimes!).
We also celebrated Kelly’s 17th birthday – WOW 17! This was the third birthday we celebrated since arriving in Shanghai and we are getting closer to 'normal' – her presents weren’t wrapped in pillow cases and she got an actual cookie cake! When we went out shopping (for the dinner items!) and got into the car, Mr. Xu gave Kelly a present (miniature figurine of the Great Wall) – very sweet and also another indication that he understands more English than he lets on since we had only talked about it in the car the night before!
In terms of other happenings, last weekend Lindsey finished up the soccer season with tournament day - at the soccer fields for 8 hours, played 6 games and won the entire Division A international school league! It was great fun to watch them play so well (especially given an 0 wins-2 losses-2 ties season record!) Great experience for Lindsey to play on a more competitive team and a chance to make more connections with other girls her age!
Megan has also ‘co-founded’ the Concordia International ultimate Frisbee team with a friend in 10th grade (yes the grade she still feels she is meant to be in!). They have about 10 co-ed kids playing Sunday afternoons – another great carryover of such fun from back home!
As we think of all the blessings in our lives, we are so thankful for all of our friends and family back home…we miss you all immensely!
The thankful for you , love for you, and missing you parts are like the boomerangs...right back at ya!!! Way to keep up those traditions, so proud of you!!! Clearly we need to add "Miracle on 34th Street" to our "It's A Wonderful Life" habit! Perfect pictures! The Birthday Kelly looks BEAUTIFUL!!! Love you all beyond description, Lynda Lu for all of us
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