Thanksgiving in London 2014

So obviously Thanksgiving is not celebrated here...you know the whole Pilgrims fleeing England to America for freedom bit...

We have hosted Thanksgiving the past few years so we continued the tradition across the pond. We held a Thanksgiving Potluck dinner the weekend before turkey day with Josh's friends from work. Everyone signed up to bring a different dish. We cooked the turkey, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and gravy. 

Lets talk turkey...I am not a fan, but what is a Thanksgiving without one! I began the hunt. Apparently a whole turkey is not super common here. I could find NOTHING in the grocery store. I started the online search. I was told to check Whole Foods, yeah, they charged over £10 a kg! So us having 18 people we would need a turkey that was going to cost over $300! Yikes! I looked into my online grocery service, they had less expensive options but you could start placing orders December 9th (for Christmas). Well, I finally found a frozen turkey and had it delivered the next day. Now we hoped it would fit in the tiny fridge and oven! Its the little things you take for granted in America. Some of the others had funny stories trying to collect their needed ingredients as well...Danielle was looking for canned pumpkin and they were offering her a real pumpkin. She luckily found some so she didn't have to prepare it real Pilgrim style!

Josh prepared a wonderful turkey and everyone seemed to have a great time. I love having people over, so I was very thankful everyone could join in on our American celebration!

For real Thanksgiving (November 27) Josh was in Dubai, but I was so lucky to still be surrounded by friends! Bobbi, Maddi, her mom Joan, Danielle and I planned to spend the day together. Danielle's husband was out of town as well, so it was a fun girls turkey day!

We started out the morning heading to St. Paul's Cathedral. Every year on Thanksgiving they host the Americans in London for a special celebration. The American Ambassador spoke, we sang songs, the Marines were there with our flag waving, it was so nice to be surrounded by "our people". The Cathedral is beautiful! It was a wonderful chance to check it out without having to pay for a tour. I took some pictures but they don't do it justice.

St. Paul's Cathedral

Pretty!

After our American celebration, we hunted a few more Paddington Bears in the area. This was such a fun activity we had been doing since the Fallons arrived and now Danielle got to join in!

Danielle and I at The Bank of England

At The London Museum

Outside St. Paul's

Guildhall

Next stop on the agenda was a little pub I had read about called The Mayflower Pub. It is located at the site on the Thames where the Pilgrims set sail and they do a Thanksgiving meal every year. It was a pretty far trek across the city, but it was so quiet and peaceful and we all enjoyed our time together. It was a tiny little pub but we had a great view of the Thames! The meal was a little different...squash soup, turkey, mashed squash, vegetables, stuffing balls, and pumpkin pie or pecan pie for dessert. Oh, they did have some cranberry sauce that was pretty yummy! Fun experience, but the food at the potluck was more my style.

Girls Thanksgiving

It was a great day and I was so tankful to be with some wonderful ladies (and Harvey)!