Happy Thanksgiving!

Aunt Leila (Jamil's sister) and Uncle Claude were our very first visitors!  We were exited to see family and play host in our new home.  Their travels led them to Rabat during Thanksgiving.  This was the perfect time, as we were beginning to realize what it is like to live in a place where traditional American holidays are not celebrated.  With them they brought a bit of the season's joys.  The children were lavished with Christmas and birthday gifts, and we all enjoyed seeing sights around Rabat and Fes.  Unfortunately, November is the rainiest month of the year, and many of the sights are outdoors.  Also, Jamil happened to start school this week.  After waiting for months, we found out Monday evening that school had finally started that day!  The Daniels were good sports, and we are thankful that they made the trip.

For Thanksgiving day, we decided to team up with the Saunders to host a typical Thanksgiving feast at our home.  Becky Saunders, who has a knack for Thanksgiving cuisine, did most of the heavy lifting in the kitchen, although Leila, Fatima and I contributed as well.  Because we have been fortunate enough to make friends with people across the social spectrum, Jamil was a little nervous about the invitation list and how the guests would interact.  Moreover, a lot of responses were "insha'allah," which left us weary as to who would show up.  In the end, our neighbors across the hall attended with one of their extended family members in addition to our upstairs neighbor, and another Moroccan friend and her daughter.  Our family, the Saunders,  Leila and Claude, and the Saunders's Marine friend were in attendance as well.  We shared our tradition of giving thanks individually around the table.  It turned out to be an enriching evening, and it was great to say thanks to some of the folks who have made us feel so welcome.

This is the butcher where I was able to use my French to special order a grande dinde complete!  Thankfully, my order did in fact turn out to be a large turkey.

Happy Thanksgiving!