This Thanksgiving contained a lot of ‘firsts’! It was our first Thanksgiving away from home and our first to host, which meant we baked a turkey and made dressing by ourselves for the very first time! It certainly wasn’t my favorite Thanksgiving, but we made the most of it!

Vanessa and I spent all day on Wednesday baking! She ROCKED a gorgeous apple pie and made fantastic fudge! I made two coconut cream pies complete with homemade sweetened shredded coconut from palm trees in my front yard! This process takes forever, but it’s so worth it! Plus, I feel a bit like a pioneer woman for figuring it out.

Vanessa spent the night with us on Wednesday night so we could get a head start on baking on Thanksgiving morning. She started our day off great with our mom’s famous cinnamon sugar monkey bread! It was just as delicious as mom’s!

We were all a bit nervous about hosting since we had never baked a turkey or made dressing before. The turkey wasn’t exactly a Butterball either! It was running around a yard one minute, then it was a carcass sitting in brine an hour or so later! Klint assumed the responsibility of the turkey and it turned out very well! I used his mom’s dressing recipe and I was very pleased with the results even though some of the ingredients in Uganda aren’t quite the same as back in the States! Vanessa made an AMAZING cranberry sauce and mom’s monkey bread. Thanksgiving and Christmas aren’t complete with this bread!

We invited a few friends over and had a great time celebrating thankfulness together. We even pulled up a few videos of Macy’s Thanksgiving Parades in the past so it felt a bit like home! One couple had a precious little girl that we couldn’t get enough of! After lunch, the girls and their friend Kiah played Minecraft for hours!

After everyone went home, Olivia dressed up as Mary complete with her little baby Jesus. We’re all SO thankful for the gift of Jesus!!! I’m also proud that she was ready to get the Christmas season started. It’s a bit difficult to get into the Christmas spirit when you’re still going swimming and wearing flip flops!

We ended our day by FaceTiming our families back home! That was certainly the highlight of our day!!! It brought so much joy to our hearts to see their beautiful faces and hear their voices. We just wish we could’ve been there in person. We miss our family soooo much!!! We’ve been blessed with amazing family and that’s something to be eternally grateful for!!!

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