As most of you know, Matthew works for the
Institute for Sustainable Communities, a US-based nonprofit that does great work related to climate change, environment, strengthening communities (oh, and did I mention that I worked there for a little bit too...). Because it's a US org, all staff get Thanksgiving day off. We thought this would be a great opportunity to have a Thanksgiving party for Matthew's Chinese colleagues and their families. Most had heard about Thanksgiving for years and even got the day off, but they had never had a real American T-giving meal and celebration. We had it all planned for Thanksgiving day until someone pointed out that just because ISC staff get the day off doesn't mean that their spouses and children get the day off too. On to plan b -- celebrating Thanksgiving on December 1st.
It involved a lot of cooking and cleaning and creative acquisition of ingredients (thanks Elizabeth!). We ordered two smoked turkeys from
Bubba's BBQ. My sister smuggled in some fresh cranberries, fried onions, Stove Top Stuffing (good thing as it's $10/box here in Shanghai).
We had 30+ staff and family members from the Shanghai and Guangzhou offices, two turkeys, seven pies, 20 hand painted, hand turkeys, and one hilarious football game.
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| Some of the staff from Guangzhou came early to help cook. |
