Thanksgiving in London

Today, Lynne and I spent our first ever Thanksgiving just the two of us. And . . . we survived! Just kidding. It was a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving.

I took the entire week off and we went to Wales on Monday to visit some long lost relatives. We had not been there in 20 years. Lynne's father, Roy, was born in Swansea -- Dunvant to be exact. We left flowers on the grave of Lynne's great grandmother and grandfather and visited the graves of other members of the Davies and Brayley families. The weather was cold and rainy, but we had a great time and met two new members of the family, 7-year-old Brython and 5-year-old Talaith (in photo). See all photos here. Both are bright youngsters who had no problem accompanying Lynne, me and their grandmother Anne on a five-mile hike. I can't imagine American kids doing that at their age.

Today, we did some shopping and got all the things we needed for our planned, bespoke Thanksgiving dinner. Lynne outdid herself. We planned it yesterday and I have to say, it was one of the best Thanksgiving dinners we've ever had. Of course, I missed Margie's deviled eggs! but all in all can't complain. We got a turkey breast from the butcher because we learned last year that a whole turkey won't fit into our tiny oven. With the turkey, we had Brussels sprouts, mashed potatoes with gravy, sweet potatoes with pecans, stuffing, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie (still in the oven). The Brussels sprouts were made with balsamic vinegar and pancheta. Yuuuuuum. We bought chestnuts actually roasted over an open fire on Oxford Street for the stuffing, but they fell out of our bag on the bus, so we substituted the pecans. One of the shortcomings of living in London and being reliant on public transportation. Danged, that was going to be our touch of London. At least we had a nibble of them and they are very good. Maybe for Christmas dinner!

All-in-all, we have a lot to be thankful for despite being away from our family on one of those days when you really miss them. But, hey, Lynne made an outstanding dinner -- one of the best I can remember ever -- the NFL is on TV and the pumpkin pie is in the oven. Who can not be thankful with all of that?