In previous years, our tiny apartment limited the scope of any special event we wanted to hold. But now, with our new home and a lot more space, we were able to have our first large Thanksgiving Dinner, and welcomed friends and family in the area to join the party.

Japan has a labor-related national holiday around the same time, and this year, the holiday was on Friday, so we did our Thanksgiving a day late. Altogether, there were 14 of us, all crowded around short tables in the living room. The guests: Shizuko and Akira, who went to Maui the same time as we did last February, our friends Udo and Tomiko and their kids, Vera and Lukas, Tomomi's cousins Megumi and Kiyomi, Tomomi's aunt Katsuyo, and Megumi's husband, Hayato.

Tomomi cooked turkey, mashed potatoes, made a salad and baked apple pie and pumpkin pie, while the other guests all brought food and drink for all to share.

Once the kids were done with their food, they went upstairs to play, and when I went up to check on them, I found them sitting and watching Toy Story 2.



Everyone seemed to have a great time, and we look forward to doing this again in the future. We hope everyone back in the States had a great Thanksgiving too. Happy Thanksgiving!