Love Goes: Thanksgiving Serbian Style

This was our second Thanksgiving in Serbia, but last year we celebrated with teammates, and this year we decided to invite two Serbian families to share some American goodness with. This was a huge step, Thanksgiving food is way different then anything a Serb would eat (except turkey, people do eat turkey here). Lets face it, although Jen makes the best stuffing in the world, the whole concept of stuffing is a little strange. It's impossible to explain what it is and make it sound appetizing.

The only reference these families had for Thanksgiving was t.v. and movies they see (luckily FRIENDS is on here and no American T.V. program celebrated Thanksgiving quite like those cooky New York singles). I did explain to them ahead of time that there would be no huge turkey on the table with little white chef hats on his legs. I think they were a little dissapointed, but better to get that out ahead of time.

Jen worked tirelessly for two days to prepare all the food. My contribution consisted of getting the kids out of the house so she could cook. She alternated between talking with her mom and texting teammates to give the impression that she was not cooking alone. She did an amazing job, even making her own cranberry sauce. Her best cooking decision was in the desert department. We knew that all this food would be foreign and espeacially desert. We were going with pumpkin and pecan pie. Instead of making huge pies that may not be liked she made mini pies - that way the wasting of amazing desert goodness would be minimal.

Dinner was phenomanal, I contributed by brewing amazing Starbucks coffee, no instant for my guests. Our Serb friends were very intentional taking small helpings of everything and then going back for seconds of the stuff they liked. Sweet potatoes were a big hit - who would not like something smothered in butter, brown sugar, marshmallows and nuts. There was a big discussion on what a pecan is. The Serbian dictionary described it as a longer, smaller walnut, but it was decided it was much sweeter then a walnut.

Kyleigh took care of the kids, reading a story of the first thanksgiving, and preparing an activity for the kids. They all made thankful turkeys.
Over all it was great night and we were blessed to share our traditions with some great people.