Thanksgiving

Well, the first Thanksgiving dinner I ever hosted, yesterday, (yes, I know Thanksgiving isn't until next week, but it's very difficult to roast a turkey while you're on a train to Brussels) went beautifully. I spent much of last week planning, preparing, and shopping, made up some side dishes on Thursday night, then cooked from noon to 5 pm on Friday with three other Americans. :) 14 of the 16 people I invited showed up, I didn't burn the turkey or set anything on fire, I was able to make a good resemblance of scalloped corn without creamed corn or corn muffins and by just using my ingenuity, and I got a lot of compliments and thank yous from everyone. It was a really fun night, just sitting around, eating dinner with all the close friends I've made here in Germany, conversing and drinking wine, and really feeling thankful for where I am in life right now.

That said, sitting through a Thanksgiving dinner and just reflecting on last night also makes me a little homesick - Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, and I feel very weird not being around my family during this time.

It was also a very magical moment right around 8 pm, as we were eating, when we realized it was snowing outside - the first snow of the season in Trier. I bitched and moaned, like any good Minnesotan, but it was actually very beautiful; everything was pitch black, and you could only see the snow as it passed through the halo around each light and as it landed on your coat. Late after dinner, I and two friends wandered around the city and through the Christmas market that is being set up and just watched the snow fall.

This morning, when I woke up, upon opening my curtains, I was greeted by a landscape change; enough snow fell last night to almost cover the grass, only leaving small patches to poke through, and the trees, even at noon, are all laden with wet snow. It is really quite beautiful.

(On Yahoo! News, the main headlines are "Mittens and gloves out: the first snowfall over the weekend will stick around" and "Traffic crises due to the snow" - the spot with the most snow in Deutschland, in the Alps, was about six inches. How strange to actually live somewhere where people do not know how to deal with snow!)

This also honestly makes me a bit homesick, seeing Trier looking so much like home (even though this a view of home I would've had back in late September/early October). On the flip side, I'm certainly glad that I haven't been dealing with this white stuff for a month already... I've realized that the long winters really do affect my mood, and not in the most positive of ways.

Thus, Minnesota has come to Germany for the weekend. It remains to be seen if it will stick around, but I think, if anything, I will just feel a nice reminder of home every once in awhile. :)