Our First Thanksgiving!!

You're cordially invited to:

Thanksgiving (Dominican-style) with the Morgans!

This Thanksgiving was one we are sure we will never forget! Not only was it far from our "normal" celebrations with our families, but there were plenty of memorable moments as we prepared to have our friends over. So sit back, and enjoy!

I had been getting ready for Thanksgiving for several weeks, which included making the invitations, going shopping in Roseau, cleaning our apartment, and making place settings. I was very thankful to have plenty to do - it all kept me very busy! Kyle and I borrowed a table and chairs from Ryan and Ashley (Kyle was walking down Moo Cow Trail with the table on his head - he's picked up on some of the Dominican ways!) I collected recipes from my mom and Greg, as well as family recipes from Kyle's mom. RCF provided us with a turkey, which was great! It was a good ol' Butterball turkey! I was even able to find a can of pumpkin puree here for pumpkin pie. I bought it at the end of October, and apparently it was a hot item, because everyone was looking for pumpkin all over the island and couldn't find any. I probably could have made some nice money by making extra pies! Anything that reminds us of the comforts of home means so much down here!

Yet even though I made all my shopping lists, checked them twice, and had Kyle helping me get the apartment ready (he was cleaning the bathroom for a good hour!), there's no way we could have been fully prepared for what Dominica had in store for us.

The day before, I started making some of the food. I made my deviled eggs. started the fruit salad (one of Kyle's favorites that his mom always makes - he was very thankful to be able to have that all the way down here!), and then it was on to the pies... I made my crusts, put the pumpkin pie in the oven, and when I went to check on it 15 minutes later, I noticed there was no fire in there...

My heart dropped. Just a few days ago, my friend Ralna ran out of propane (and she was having 75 people over for Thanksgiving!) She went to refill her tank, and found out there was a shortage of propane on the island... I was hoping ours would make it until after that Thursday, but our oven had other plans! I immediately called Ashley, and she told me to come over anytime, and said I'd be able to just camp out at her house and use her oven all day Thursday. Then, our friend Ryan lives a floor below us. We planned on cooking the turkey there, so at 9:30 Wednesday night, we went knocking on his door to finish the pie. Thank goodness for our amazing friends (and their full propane tanks!)

So though are plans were changed a bit, it wasn't too bad. Actually, we counted it as a blessing - our apartment wouldn't be hot when we were eating dinner from cooking in it all day! Thursday morning Kyle headed off to class, I baked another pie at Ryan's, all the while continuing to thaw the turkey out in the sink. Now, at one point, the water just turned off. (This is totally normal here. Actually the last time I cut Kyle's hair, we were all finished, covered in his hair, and I went to hop in the shower, and wouldn't you know... no water!) So I had a minor freak-out, but realized it was about time I started cooking at Ashley's, so I packed up my many bags and basket, prayed she had water and was off!

Finally with an oven that had gas, and Kyle at home in charge of the turkey and getting the tables set up, things seemed to be going smoothly. First I started making the rolls (well, I had prepared them earlier, considering they took about 3 hours to rise. No store-made rolls here!) Then, I started the process of baking Greg's famous baked beans, which is supposed to take 4 hours! (my family has them every year, and I'm the only one with recipe besides Greg!). Next, I made one of my favorites (and now Kyle's too!), my mom's corn casserole. Ashley and I just hung out and relaxed for a bit, which was so nice in the middle of all such a hectic day!

I text messaged Kyle to make sure he was doing alright with the turkey, and he texted me back: "Oh I'm just on cloud nine." At the time, I was a little nervous because I thought he was being sarcastic, and started imagining turkey disasters. Little did I know, he had a blast buttering up that turkey, taking out the giblets, and getting it ready for the oven. In fact, he had such a great time, he even made a video. Enjoy!

Though there was the usual Thanksgiving-day stress, and a slight crisis when I figured out the beans only needed to cook 2 hours down here instead of the normal 4 (they were just little burnt), it was smooth sailing! I left Ashley's, came home and had just enough time to get ready and give my family a quick call (sorry it wasn't longer!). But soon, we were all set up and ready to go!

Our Thanksgiving Menu:

• Deviled Eggs
• Fruit Salad (thanks Kyle's Mom!)
• Crescent Rolls
• Baked Beans (thanks Greg - Andrea's Stepdad!)
• Corn Casserole (thanks Andrea's Mom!)
• Mashed Potatoes (thanks Greg!)
• Stuffing - stove top, though you would have thought it was homemade:) (thanks Ryan!)
• Kyle's AMAZING turkey! (it may not look the greatest here, but that's because it was so good, it was falling right off the bone!)

And then for dessert...

• Two Pumpkin Pies - and of course, you can't have pie without the Cool Whip (and one of the stores had it down here!)
• Chocolate Chip Pie - thanks for the inspiration Ashley! :)
• No-Bake Cookies
• Pumpkin-Cream Cheese Roll (Thanks Justin and Ashley!)
  

And here are our awesome friends who came over to celebrate with us!

Our Guests: (from the front left of the table around to the front right)

• Andy (sorry only half of you is in there!) - Andy goes to RCF and he was Kyle's peer tutor partner last semester
• Kahroba- Andy's girlfriend
• Greg- One of Kyle's good friends down here!
• Kyle & I
• Ryan - Our friend who lives below us, who graciously let us borrow his kitchen!
• Jamie - Good friend of Kahroba, Andy & Ryan
• Dave - goes to RCF with us, and is one of Kyle's good friends
• Dan - you guessed it, that's Jazz-Hands Dan!

All the food was great and reminded everyone of being home for the holidays! It was just what we needed to get us through these last few weeks! And of course, we ate so much food, and then hit the desserts. We were all very happily full :)

And it wouldn't be a gathering with the Morgans without some games! We started out with garbage of course, and then played a game of Catch Phrase. Justin and Ashley, our friends, stopped by later and joined us for games. Soon, it was already 11pm and seeing as everyone (but me!) had classes at 8am the next day, everyone started leaving.

Kyle and I took sometime to clean up and then sat back and realized what a great time we had, and how blessed we are by our friends down here! Happy Thanksgiving!!