It was our second year in the country and, much to my dismay, it wouldn’t be our last. After the first Thanksgiving had been such a bust, I decided to try and grow some thankfulness within me. We decorated the house with handmade preschool fall decorations – handprint turkeys and all. We talked about the things we were thankful for each day. On the outside, things were good. On the inside, they were not. I was still quite upset over yet another Thanksgiving without my husband… in a foreign country… with purple sweet potatoes.
After the first year fiasco, I decided the girls and I would make a day of it. I don’t remember what we did during the day, but I’m almost certain we had cinnamon rolls for breakfast. For our evening activities we were going to go feed the fish by the front gate and walk right outside to our favorite restaurant. We called it “Blue Bowl” because we had NO idea what its real name was, and they had a picture of a blue rice bowl on their sign.
We bundled up, grabbed some bread for the fish and started out on our excursion. After feeding all the huge Koi fish, we walked out the gate and to our dinner destination.
IT WAS CLOSED.
Not because they were celebrating Thanksgiving, but simply because it was a Thursday… and they are closed on Thursdays. We only ever came here on the weekends, so I had no idea this was even a possibility.
I could have cried. I had nothing at the house to prepare for a special meal. And, the girls knew we were supposed to be going out for dinner. We had talked all week about it being a special day of giving thanks.
(I was NOT very thankful at that moment.)
We went with plan “S” (spur of the moment) and walked over to the train station. I bought the ticket (kids were free) and we rode one stop over to another one of the girls favorite places…. McDonalds. If you’ve never celebrated Thanksgiving with a cheeseburger happy meal in a foreign country, you are missing out. I can guarantee that they had never gotten a toy for Thanksgiving before, or since. They thought it was the best thing ever. I kept thinking, “we are eating at McDonalds for Thanksgiving… I wonder if getting dressed up and eating purple potatoes would have been better.”
That year was one of their favorite memories for many years to come. We spent the day doing fun activities, feeding the fish, a train ride, and McDonalds. We even added a cherry on top with a stop at Starbucks for a latte and a couple hot chocolates.
As I look back on it now, I smile. Truth be told, it is one of my favorite memories as well. It just wasn’t so fun at the moment. For those who were keeping score (me) that made 2 years with my husband deployed, 2 years where the reality was nowhere close to what I had hoped it would be, and at least 1 more year to try it again. I was beginning to learn I couldn’t simply hold my breath until we moved.
Maybe I was going to have to figure out how to enjoy where we were living. And, to figure out how to be thankful in the midst of it all – purple sweet potatoes, McDonalds cheeseburgers, and unmet expectations.