We're Thankful

Since our mission is small we decided to bring everyone in for a Thanksgiving feast and afternoon movie. After debating back and forth whether to ask the Shanghai Chinese restaurant if they would provide a meal for us at their restaurant, I decided that maybe I could make dinner for 52 people. Was I nuts?!

I assigned the Tirana sisters to come up with table coverings and decorations, and invited the missionaries to provide the desserts.

The Assistants and Marty spent half a day on Wednesday in the cold, musty basement, sweeping, mopping, removing junk, stacking the huge stash of chairs we have down there, and setting up tables and chairs. I scrubbed a decade of grime off the plastic chairs and Marty cleaned the dirty basement kitchen by himself, even cleaning out the refrigerator. The basement was transformed, especially after the Tirana sisters came in with their clever decorations. I made place cards and told the missionaries that if they messed with them they wouldn't get dinner. (This was a trick to intersperse the newer missionaries among the older ones. The missionaries naturally gravitate to their MTC groups, and I wanted to "mix it up" a bit.)

I cooked six 12-lb. Butterball turkeys that the Bairds were able to buy for us through the U.S. Embassy, and one 6 1/2 lb. half turkey breast we found at the Conad Supermarket. I made tons of gravy, six batches of Parkerhouse and orange rolls, and got help on the last day from the Snow's, our Humanitarian Aid couple in Vlore, who whipped up all the potatoes (office elders and Assistants peeled), and helped me make the dressing. I put together a large fruit cocktail/fresh mandarin orange/banana/mini-marshmallows (sent by my daughter Emily)/and whipped cream salad that was devoured as the first course. Knowing that I had limited oven and stove space, the rolls, gravy, and most of the turkey were cooked ahead and frozen for thawing and reheating the day of the dinner. Getting it all together and hot at the same time was a trick. The green beans didn't heat up in time and had to be served along with the second round. There was enough food for seconds, and we had the equivalent of two turkeys left over! With all those side dishes, I guess we didn't need so much meat. Remind me never to go into the catering business.

Elder Turley and Mugleston's huge Apple Pie (they peeled 28 apples), one of many desserts provided by the missionaries. We had mixed decor as the 1st Branch had already started putting up their Christmas decorations.
Motra Kennedy, a happy Brit likes our Thanksgiving tradition! Also at her table (round to the left) are Sister Korita, Elder Allen, The Shupe's, (Institute/Outreach couple), and Elder Hixson.
The Tirana sisters decorated the tables with flowers, Thanksgiving-themed crayon artwork, small Thanksgiving cutouts to scatter on the tables, and candy. L. to R., Sister Boyer, Sister Bentley, Sister Larson, and our Albanian mini-missionary, Sister Korita, who is serving for twelve weeks until January when we get a new sister and will have even numbers again.
Gravy for a crowd! I think it was at least two gallons and was yummy, if I don't say so myself. My Kitchen Aid Mixer has gotten a good workout on our mission. Hope it holds out another year and a half.

After dinner we came up to the first floor where we had set up a theater using my computer, a multi-media projector, and some good speakers, and watched "UP" which all but the newest missionaries had not seen. The missionaries loved it! Afterward, they had seconds of dessert and went on their way happy and thankful for one another, for their missions, and for a little diversion from their long days of hard work.