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Thanksgiving

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By Culbert Report
As per Moscow tradition, we generally begin the day with some ultimate frisbee with friends at a local park.  This year a balmy 39 degrees greeted us as we lined up on the field - compared to years past, it did feel a bit like summer - some kids were even in shorts!

Anna enjoyed toddling around in her snowsuit, cheering for Mom or Dad, then grabbed a quick nap in between frisbee and lunch.  We headed to some dear friends' to enjoy turkey and all of the delicious sides.  We ladened ourselves down with one baby, one bag of ikea children's chairs attached to the top of the stroller, 4 pies, and a few odds and ends.  I don't exactly remember what we did as far as transporting baked goods before we got a stroller.  A friend actually used a dolly to transport Thanksgiving goodness to our gathering place.  Ha, sometimes owning a car does not seem like the worst possible idea here in the big city...


This year was a bit of a record, 25 adults and 5 kids all gathered into one apartment.  Luckily our friends' home is a bit bigger than the average Moscow set-up, so we all had plenty of space for dinner, dessert, games, and conversation.  The turkey was fantastic and the company wonderful.  Our dessert spread was also pretty impressive.  I decided to try my hand at pie-making this year.  Based on the number of leftovers I took home, apple pie seemed most popular, followed by pecan, then pumpkin with a shortbread crust and hazelnut crumble, and lastly classic pumpkin pie.  As it turns out, 4 pies are rather difficult to hand carry across town, but carrying home primarily dessert leftovers seemed to make up for the trouble.  Even Dan may be reaching maximal pie capacity, if such a thing exists.






The holiday season is now officially upon us here, with Russia following America's trend of decorating earlier and earlier every year.  New Year's trees are starting to pop up all around town and the hours of sunlight are steadily decreasing.  We're thankful for friends with whom we can share holidays here, and family and friends State-side whom we miss each day.  We've simply overwhelmed with blessings, there's no other way to say it.  Happy Thanksgiving to all.


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