The Pilgrims were thankful and so are we...

This year I celebrated my first Thanksgiving out of the country, out of New England that is. As we all know, the Pilgrims came to Plymouth, Massachusetts on the Mayflower and we celebrate the first feast that they had with the Native Americans after the long winter.

At my parents house our traditional Thanksgiving starts with a time to express what you are thankful for from the past year. After each person from the table says what they are thankful for my dad will pray and then the meal that we had been preparing for the previous 6 hours is devoured in about 13 minutes or less. We continued these traditions in Al Ain this year!

At home we typically only get a chance to be thankful for one thing (with a dinner table always full of 6 or more people you have to be quick so that your food doesn't get cold) I will take this opportunity to express my thanks in more than just one sentence:

I am thankful for...

-the 8 sentences in arabic that I have learned in the past 3 months and all the people who have repeated these sentences to me over and over again

-this past summer in Boston and the friends who made the hours on the beach fly by

-having a real Thanksgiving dinner with family, friends from New England and new friends from here

On Thanksgiving we took advantage of the holiday spirit and put up a Christmas Tree. Thank you to all my friends and family for the beautiful ornaments you all sent! It's a great reminder of each of you this Christmas!

A Hulsey family tradition, the youngest child sits on our dad's shoulders and puts the angel on the tree. This year I was the youngest child and Trey filled in for dad. (Dad and Jared, I expect to see a photo like this of the two of you this Christmas)

Just a few of the ornaments that Christine brought from all of you. So.... if you have not yet decorated your tree, "Deck the Halls" and turn up the Christmas music!