Marc and Malin's Thanksgiving Visit!

This year, we didn't have plans for Thanksgiving Day itself. Pete would be working and there was no cousin Jessie or auntie Gia around to celebrate with us. We made plans to celebrate on Saturday with friends so that we could get our turkey fix, but I was feeling sad about being alone on the actual day. Then our friends Marc and Malin, who are notorious for making last minute plans, decided to come and spend the holiday with us! We had just enough time to order a turkey from our local butcher. Marc is one of Pete's oldest friends and has been living with his Swedish girlfriend for years now in Stockholm so thankfully they didn't have far to travel. We were so excited to have friends to celebrate with!

They brought some Syrian appetizers and desserts to represent Marc's family traditions and lingonberry sauce to replace cranberry sauce and give us a taste of Sweden. Otherwise, it was straight-up American style with Turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn bread, green beans and apple pie. Yum! Our Dutch neighbors joined us for dessert to get a small taste of the holiday. 

Jude's little hands. I will treasure these! 

Keurslager Stronkhorst (our local butcher) did it again! Another delicious turkey served warm with our own stuffing. 

Cheers, Prost, Skal! 

Malin's birthday was on Friday and we went for a 4 and 1/2 hour marathon dinner at trendy Bak! I don't think I've ever had a 4 and 1/2 hour meal, though it didn't seem that long at all, catching up with friends. It sounded scary, but the Jerusalem artichoke ice cream dessert was amazing! 

Facetiming with Malin's nieces in Sweden.

The sun came out on Saturday. We took a meandering driving tour and ended up in de Pijp. Marc and Malin got to try the dutch version of herring (not fans) and see Jude in action at the playground. 

In the end, Jude and I went to one of our planned Saturday Thanksgivings hosted by an American mom friend. What a feast and gathering of some really special people. While we were chowing down, Pete, Marc and Malin were throwing some (a lot) back at the nearby Brouwerij 't Ij. They were certainly a merry crew to pick up and drive home :) 

Kid's table. Jude lasted about 5 minutes before demanding to sit at the adult table with mommy.