Ribbons Undone

Thanksgiving was pretty low-key this year. I was still burnt out from the Halloween party we threw a few weeks earlier, and was already preparing for Quinnie’s birthday party a few weeks later.

Obviously Thanksgiving isn’t celebrated in Germany. Even if I’d been up for cooking, it’s really hard to make the traditional Thanksgiving dishes here because they don’t sell lots of the ingredients needed (unless you want to use lots of substitutes and make everything from scratch).

I did make a pumpkin pie though- I refuse to have a Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie. I had to make it from scratch- no canned pumpkin or ready made pie crusts here, unfortunately. The girls love pumpkin pie as much as I do, so it was worth the effort. I definitely missed the turkey with gravy and stuffing though!

Even though we live in Germany, I always make sure the girls celebrate Thanksgiving in little ways. We read lots of Thanksgiving books about the pilgrims (that I brought from the States), we do Thanksgiving crafts, and watch “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving”. They seem to enjoy it all, which is nice.

I love the Mayflower in the background!

The FP (favorite parent) strikes again!

that’s homemade crust y’all!

wait, is your piece bigger than mine?!

Quinnie’s picture of a guy thinking about pumpkin pie. Told you they love it!

Every November 11th children in Germany celebrate Sankt Martin’s Tag. They get really excited about it- it’s kind of like how kids in America feel about Halloween (only it celebrates something much nicer). I’ve blogged about Sankt Martin before, so for more details about the day and its traditions, you can read about it in this earlier post.

I took this pic in Kaufland (Germany’s version of Walmart), a few weeks before Sankt Martin’s Tag. Everything you need to make your own lanterns!

These pics are from another craft store. Kids here get really creative and elaborate with their lantern ideas.

Left Pic- Hanging bulb lights for inside the lanterns (for younger kids). Right pic- Candle holders for inside the lanterns (for older kids).

The girls always make their lanterns at school with their classmates. Every floor of the school comes up with their own design, and the classes march together with their lanterns at the nighttime procession. I love the design this year- every side has something representing Köln.