Happy Thanksgiving!

I haven't forgotten that Thanksgiving falls on the fourth Thursday of November, but this year we celebrated early.  We celebrated yesterday, because the boys had the day off--it was Buß-und Bettag.  This is supposed to be a day of penance, and it was a national holiday (remember, no separation of church and state in Deutschland) until 1994.  But, Bavaria decided to keep it as a school holiday.  I think more for the teachers than the students.

Since they were home all day, they helped me make a sweet potato pie.  I haven't found canned pumpkin here yet, and when we tried making pumpkin pie from fresh pumpkin, the filling came out too runny.  In other words, our sweet potato pie is better than our pumpkin, and this year I added ginger, as well as cinnamon and nutmeg.  It was a little spicier and better.  And just like last year, we made a chicken instead of a turkey.  I made it with tarragon, which I love, but Alex didn't, so we had to scrape it off.  He told me that he likes the chicken from the street vendor, who sells roasted chickens on Tuesdays near our local grocery store, better.

Bob and I also had to explain to Alex what Thanksgiving is all about.  Philip learned about the Native Americans and how they helped the Pilgrims while he was in the first and second grade in Sauganash.  But since Alex is being educated in Germany, he hasn't learned the significance of Thanksgiving.  He thought it was a medieval holiday and had us dress as kings and a queen.