Turkey Day: Luxembourg Style

I’m writing this from an airplane, on my way home for Christmas break! So yeah, I’m late lol. But I think it’s still worth writing about Thanksgiving because there were a few huge differences with having a Thanksgiving abroad. Lily, Yasmin, Ashley, and I planned to have dinner at my house because my kitchen and dining room are really perfect for a huge meal like that, so that was great. Ashley is amazing because she came over at like 10 AM and started cooking with me and we didn’t get done until like 9 PM! So I definitely could not have done it without her. I went grocery shopping for the food I was preparing and had a hard time finding a few specific things. The biggest thing I was worried about was the turkey- duh. There isn’t really anywhere you can buy a whole turkey in Luxembourg or the surrounding countries like we do from the grocery store. I thought about ordering one from a butcher but it was way too expensive. So I went to my favorite grocery store (Auchan obviously) and they were selling Thanksgiving turkeys! People here don’t celebrate Thanksgiving for obvious reasons so it was just for the American ex-pats which is so nice! The other thing I absolutely could not find was pureed pumpkin (like Libby’s brand canned stuff). Ashley found some frozen pumpkin puree which is supposed to be used for soup but that’s what we ended up using for the pumpkin pie. We (when I say we I mean Ashley) also hand-made the pie crust. The fall spices I’m so used to were also really difficult to find, but someone from church (shoutout Debbie!) told me after Thanksgiving that you just have to know where to look. So I guess I should’ve asked other Americans where to find stuff, I don’t know why that didn’t cross my mind. Yasmin made mashed potato’s and Lily brought macaroni casserole, both were made so perfectly- they tasted just like home. Rosanna also came which was so nice! And she brought wine and rolls (which I almost burnt lol). Blog, I don’t think you’ve met Rosanna. I’ll add a picture of us down below but she is absolutely incredible. She’s from London but moved to Luxembourg for work and has been going to all nations church for the past 8 years and has just decided God wants her to move to Hillsong- lucky us! She’s an enneagram 4 which is what we initially bonded over. We understand parts about each other it’s hard for other numbers to understand so we get along so well. And she has a 5-year-old daughter named Lily who is so adorable. She just leaks the love of Jesus everywhere she goes and I really have come to look up to her as a sister in Christ and a much wiser Christian. So back to Thanksgiving! Yasmin set the table, see below, and it was so cute! She’s an interior designer so she had so much fun with it and it made the dinner feel really special. Oh, and I made sweet tea! Because I just could not have thanksgiving without it. It was the first time I’d had it since being in Europe and I made enough to last me a while. I can’t wait to drink sweet tea at home oh my goodness. Anyway, Justin and Lize ate with us and then us girls stayed up talking until like 1, Ashley spent the night and Rosanna drove the other girls home. So that was my experience with my family here in Luxembourg on Thanksgiving 2019. Enjoy the pics :)