thanksgiving (and christmas markets!!!) in munich

 

on the evening of thanksgiving day, we flew from london to munich. ian’s brother hyrum is living there with his wife heather and their five kids – and we had been looking forward for months to visiting them and celebrating thanksgiving with them! they were kind enough to observe the holiday and have the feast a day late to accommodate us (ian had to work through thursday but took the day off on friday).

{i couldn’t let the fourth thursday in november go by without some kind of commemoration though, so we ate turkey, cranberry and stuffing sandwiches before boarding our flight :)}

we got in late thursday night and were so excited to see the kids in the morning! after breakfast, heather and i – with lots of help from the kids! - buzzed about the kitchen making pies and chopping vegetables. hyrum took the three of us, along with his three boys, down to the city center to see the famous glockenspiel at marienplatz. at the stroke of eleven, we stood, along with lots of other tourists!, with craned necks watching the figurines play drums, dance and joust! it was pretty cool. then ian (with sleeping moses on his chest) and i climbed with jonathan and spencer to the top of the church tower, and then we all mulled around the christmas markets for a bit before heading home to work on and enjoy our thanksgiving feast!

    
^^ an eight year old took this photo :) ^^
 
^^ a pretty scene on the way back to hyrum and heather's place! ^^
 
^^ i gotta say, our thanksgiving feast was pretty epic. it's no small feat to make that traditional meal, especially in a foreign country! heather was so amazing to find almost everything we needed at different stores and markets around munich, and i brought a few things from england. the turkey and all the trimmings turned out gloriously delicious! ^^
 
^^ this weirdly-lit picture is the best family thanksgiving photo we got. also taken by an eight year old :) // aren't the napkin holders / place cards that hannah and charlotte made so cute?! ^^

 

^^ big cheers for thanksgiving dinner! ^^
 
^^ look at that plate of goodness! // moses makes a pretty cute turkey, we think! :) ^^
 
^^ moses cuddling with cousin charlotte ... and hooray for the pumpkin (and apple, and vanilla creme) pie! ^^

it was so wonderful to celebrate thanksgiving with family. and to reflect on all, all, all we have to be thankful for. i snapped this photo of our thankful tree (on our fridge, which we've been adding to throughout the month of november) before we left for the airport:

our life is so bounteous and beautiful, and i am so so so thankful!