November's End

Thanksgiving is by far my favorite holiday, and we always have a house brimming with guests in Durham. On the one hand, I appreciated the respite from the hustle and bustle of the Halloween-Thanksgiving-Christmas-New Year's stretch; on the other hand, I knew this season would bring some homesickness. 

Japan does celebrate a Thanksgiving holiday, called Labor Thanksgiving, during which they give thanks for hard work and production. Labor Thanksgiving typically occurs on November 23, though this year it was on Monday, November 24. Although I was missing our usual celebrations, we made up for it by celebrating Thanksgiving twice in Japan - once on November 24 with another family from the U.S. at OIST, and once on November 27 with our U.S. friends at Kadena Air Base.

I didn't have many kitchen tools, but with store-bought pie crust and disposable pie plates, I managed to adapt "Nana's Sweet Potato Pie" with a common Okinawan ingredient -- beni-imo, the purple sweet potato. "Nana" is John's paternal grandmother, and her pie is legendary in the Dolbow clan. Although I never met Nana, I have come to love her through her recipes. Her sweet potato pie - usually made for our Thanksgiving by my mother-in-law - is nothing like the sweet potato pie that you often see, which is made with orange sweet potatoes and tastes similar to pumpkin pie. Nana's sweet potato pie is made with white sweet potatoes and almost has a custard-like consistency. And although my attempt did not taste quite like Nana's, the beni-imo sure made it pretty.

On Labor Thanksgiving, we joined another family for our first feast. Zoe's BFF from preschool and her parents invited us for a wonderful meal at their apartment in Onna. The mom had ordered a turkey online, and we all enjoyed the traditional side dishes.

Unfortunately, I don't have any photos from our American Thanksgiving, but it was a huge success. We joined my high school friend Meredith and her awesome family, along with some other friends of theirs, for a huge turkey, a ham, and all the fixins. There was too much food, lots of kids running around, and plenty of laughs. Just like home.

Maddox and her friend pretending to be Shisa

The rest of November just kind of puttered along. One day, Maddox and her friend read a story they had written to Zoe's class. It was super-cute, and Zoe felt very proud to have her big sister there doing something so important.

Another random November day found us at American Village where the girls could get a little taste of Christmas, albeit while wearing shorts.

We passed some time at a place with optical illusion paintings which made for fun dramatic play and cute photos.

No, Zoe! Don't let go!

Careful, Maddox!

The final event for us in November was a fundraising event for the preschool and daycare which Zoe attended at OIST. They had several handmade crafts by members of the OIST community, games, baked goods, food vendors, and an enormous yard sale. Maddox made a few dozen Rainbow Loom bracelets which she donated to the craft tables. They went like hot cakes!

Maddox and her friend also got henna tattoos which made Maddox feel like a teenager. Speaking of teenagers...somebody got a hold of Daddy's Ray Bans and gave us a glimpse into our future.

Here ends November. Just a few posts left in December before we return to the U.S.A.!