Nothing says Thanksgiving…

Nothing says Thanksgiving like pine trees decked with shiny garland and colorful pieces of paper.

Yes, I said Thanksgiving. Not Christmas. You won’t find a single tree adorned come Christmas day in these parts. But Thanksgiving?

Apparently, it’s become a tradition to deck out the trees in front of the foreign language building in celebration of the day. If you’ve lingered in these parts for a long time, you may remember the Thanksgiving trees from last year. I had completely forgotten about them until I rounded the corner on my way to class today and was greeted by a menagerie of brightly colored papers and garland.

Fortunately, on a whim I had thrown my camera in my bag on the way out the door.

It is wonderful to see the school embracing and encouraging an attitude of giving thanks. It’s become common for students to call their parents on this day to thank them and express their love–something that is very rarely, if ever, done in China. Love just isn’t directly and verbally expressed, but motivated by the spirit of foreign holidays, students are picking up the phone and awkwardly communicating words that I’m quite certain their parents love to hear.

In an effort to increase my students’ thankfulness for having me as a teacher; I decided to give a quiz this Thanksgiving. Yep, I’m that kind of teacher. Some day my students will thank me!

After classes, Kami, Lauren, Stella and I headed out for a very traditional Thanksgiving feast at KFC. Nothing quite says Thanksgiving like fries, a Mexican chicken wrap, and lemonade.

In actuality, I found the dinner to be quite satisfying (that’s what six years in China will do to you), and the company quite excellent. This Thanksgiving, I’m most thankful for the people the Father has drawn close around me…both geographically and relationally. I hope you all are able to enjoy the day with those you love!