Thanksgiving x2!

Our first Thanksgiving in Germany was spread out over two weeks. (Seeing that it's Sarah's favorite holiday, she was perfectly fine with that!) Our official Thanksgiving was spent just the two of us -- Will was nice enough to sleep for most of our meal. We decided to keep it simple (it was a work day for Jeff) and Bavarian (to celebrate our new home). Sarah went to our butcher around the corner and picked up schnitzel which we paired with kase spatzel and the Oktoberfest beer Sarah had saved for the very occassion. We definitely missed being around family, but thank goodness for Skype! Our hour-long Skype sessions with California and Colorado that evening made it seem less lonely.

Our second Thanksgiving was celebrated two weekends later with fun friends and former expats from the BMW Technology Office in Palo Alto. The Schambecks always celebrate Thanksgiving for their daughter Lily (above) who was born in California during their time in the states. (Looks like we'll have an obligation to William to celebrate Oktoberfest every year since he was born in Germany. The sacrifices we make for our children!) It was potluck, but let me tell you, it was the most AMAZING GOURMET potluck we'd ever been to! Everything was made from scratch. Forget the stuffing out of the box and pumpkin out of the can -- well, you have to because you can't buy it here! Ute and Joachim brought Pumpkin Chicken Soup and pumpkin pie -- both made with real pumpkin! Who knew you could do this?!?! :) I brought sweet potatoes. Sylvia provided amazing green beans in a luscious sauce and scalloped potatoes from scratch. Mark and Maren provided the stuffing with roasted chestnuts (Maren roasted them herself!) and the freshest, brined turkey we've ever tasted. Take that Butterball! Fortunately there was one thing that was similar to Thanksgivings in the past: we all ate too much!

* This post is not intended to offend any mothers or grandmothers with whom we've shared wonderfully meaningful Thanksgivings in the past. But seriously, the Germans put our Thanksgivings to shame!