Thanksgiving

I experienced two significant firsts yesterday: Thanksgiving and snow. I woke up early, about six am, ran to the window, and the street was all white. Fortunately Heather's friend Kara had loaned us snow jackets the day before, so we put those on (dressing is such a damn process in the cold) and eventually went outside. It was snowing lightly, and to my surprise the snowflakes reminded me of bushfires, because ash falls just as delicately and unpredictably as small snowflakes. We made little snowballs and threw them at each other. Heather told me how to walk in order to avoid slipping. I tried to catch snow on my tongue. It was all so fabulous, but the snow only lasted a couple of hours after that, and then it rained. We spent the rest of the day inside.

J. cooked the Thanksgiving turkey, and Heather's aunt cooked almost everything else. Heather and I roasted some pumpkin and sat around for the rest of the day, talking and watching everyone else do things. At around 4:30 we ate the most delicious meal of turkey, mashed potatoes, pumpkin, peas, cranberry sauce, and gravy. And wine. Afterwards we had coffee and pumpkin pie. This is such a fantastic tradition! I think we'll have to celebrate it in Australia (at our place, I mean) from now on. It's very important to embrace Heather's cultural traditions and make her feel at home. If it means we have to consume large amounts of roasted foods, so be it.