So this is our second year to do Thanksgiving here. Before we started spending our winters here – the Haitians told me they never celebrated it or even took off work. It was just a normal work day. I decided that would never be the same again – if I could help it! 

It’s unfortunate that I got sick and was just in the states because the entire family had already planned to go to New York to visit Jose’s family (who hasn’t seen them for a year). So we’re getting ready to leave on Tuesday of next week. I wanted to make sure though – even though we weren’t going to be here – that we still celebrated this day of “thanks”. 

For years – I’ve collected “fancy” dishes and glasses – “fancy” meaning from Pier 1 and walmart! LOL! But I love to entertain and have people over. For those of you who’ve been around me – you know my house is always popping with people. We constantly have group members and other random people staying with us. Right now we have Taylen/Miseline/Eveline living with us – it’s like having three more little girls. They love the same stuff our little girls love – and it’s like everyone is on a one-to-one ratio. They are so good with Gigi too. It’s funny because now that Gigi can walk –  she can open any door in the house and “escape”. She doesn’t just open the door – she flings it open and makes it hit the wall – so she can’t really sneak – because she’s too loud. So you just hear one of the older girls yelling – GIGI COME BACK!!  They’ve been so good – we’ve really enjoyed having them. 

Where was I? Right – talking about Thanksgiving. So I’ve been collecting these little glasses and plates and stuff. Who would have thought I would have enough glasses for 30 people (two each)  – 60 total! Plus, we had enough plates for 30 people! I knew when I hit those sales it wasn’t in vein. So I wanted to decorate to make it really feel special. Each person had two glasses – one with sugar on the rim and an orange slice with a special punch made of fresh pineapple, lemons, oranges, and limes! Then another glass where they could have coke, spirte, or tea.

We had everyone go around the table to say something they were thankful for. You might think it would be hard to have much to say when you live in Haiti. Yet every person listed several things – most of them were just thankful to be alive today. It was so humbling to be sitting with them around the table. Whatever little we have is a thousand times more than what they have and yet their list of blessings goes miles longer than ours do! It seems like I learn something new from our Haitian family nearly every day – today was no exception.

Then we ate and ate and ate. It was so much fun to see them hit those food lines three and four times. We had so much food that I told them to take some home to their families. They were so “thankful” which is the point of Thanksgiving!! What a wonderful night! We give Thanks to God for letting us share this wonderful night with our dear friends and family.