Thanksgiving Part 2

Me and Mathis

Last Friday I went on the train to a small town in Nordrhein-Westfalen called Rheda-Wiedenbrück to visit Ginny and help her make Thanksgiving dinner for her host family.  Once again, people in Germany do not celebrate Thanksgiving at all and think it's kind of strange that we celebrate such a holiday.  Just a reminder - Ginny is an Au Pair and takes care of a baby named Mathis.

Ginny picked me up at the train station and we went shopping for some last minute items at the grocery store.  I got stuff to make sweet potato casserole and Ginny set out in search of those little fried onion pieces for green bean casserole.  It was quite the search.  We found a bag of potato chips that had a picture of these onions on it.  I took it and showed it to one of the employees and asked if they sold these onions.  At first she didn't understand what I meant by 'these onions' so I had to describe exactly what they were.  She told me to go towards the cheese and turn left . . . and there they were!!

We started prepping whatever we could for dinner the next day and then went to the Christmas Market in Wiedenbrück.  We ate baked potatoes and crepes and drank cherry glühwein (a traditional German holiday drink).  They also had a flute band complete with an alpine horn!

The Christmas Market

The Alpine Horn

We walked back to Ginny's house and I got to see a little bit of the city - it looks like a fairy tale, especially in the snow!  I also got to introduce Ginny to one of my favorite chick flicks that night - Stardust!

The next day, we took Mathis and their dog Kara for a walk through Rheda and through a beautiful park.  Everything was covered in snow and magical!

I'm not sure if Mathis liked it very much, lol.

After we got back, we cooked, cooked, cooked.  We were both a little nervous about the turkey, since neither one of us had ever attempted to cook one before.  But it turned out wonderfully!

nearly there . . .

Before

After everything was finished, here is what we had to eat: sweet potato souffle, green bean casserole, broccoli, mac n' cheese, cornbread stuffing, turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce, apple and cranberry crumble, and walnut chocolate pie.

 

Everything was delicious!  Sandra and Christoph (Mathis' parents) had invited family as well to come eat with us.  All in all, there were 9 of us there and sooooo many leftovers.  We tried to explain to them that leftovers are a normal and awesome part of thanksgiving, but I don't think they really understood why you would make too much food on purpose.  I almost forgot a picture of a very important part of this weekend - the sweetest and most playful doberman I have ever met!

Kara, in her normal pose.