giving "gracias!"

Well, Happy Thanksgiving from the other side of the Rio Grande!

Although Mexico doesn't celebrate this most excellent American holiday, the four of us strange American foreigners made sure our community knew what Thanksgiving is all about. From explaining the Pilgrim's story to my fourth graders and watching them them eagerly devour the Thanksgiving word search I gave them, to eating turkey, potatoes, and pumpkin pie with my ninth graders and the kindergartners, I took it easy on the poor kiddies today to enjoy our day of giving "gracias!"

The pictures above show the Thanksgiving presentation my ninth graders did for the kindergartners, who looked really cute as a bunch of little indians (feather headdresses were a little easier to make than pilgrim hats). At the end of the presentation I asked the little ones, "So, did we learn what Thanksgiving is all about?" A slightly misguided boy answered me by shouting, "Yeah! TURKEY!" 

This is my second Thanksgiving to spend outside the U.S.A., away from family and the familiarity of home. I love celebrating Thanksgiving. It's the end of the fall season: the trees have shed most all their leaves, and the azure sky blends beautifully with the earth's brown carpet of dead leaves. 

However, the closing of November leads to the opening of December: the eager anticipation of seeing Jack Frost's geometrical wonders on my car windshield, having foggy glasses after coming in from the cold, playing Christmas carols on my guitar, and fixing up the Christmas tree bright and merry in our well-worn, toasty living room.

But all this must be experienced and seen from afar this year, yet again. Oddly enough, I have not felt resentment or self-pity. This is probably on the top of my "gracias!" list. God has been abundantly good to keep me content where I am. I am truly thankful for the relationships he has given me here, the opportunity to teach four beautiful groups of children and young people, to be a part of his Body in a foreign land, and to learn another side of life I never would have seen before had I not come.

May we all continue to remain grateful to the good Giver.