Happy Thanksgiving from Cambodia!

Last night, sixteen "expats" from four different countries (US, England, Canada & Australia) gathered to celebrate American Thanksgiving together. Really, for us, it's an excuse to make {and eat} lots of traditional American food and share reflections on the past year with each other. One of the missionary families hosts dinner at their house and serves a Butterball turkey {purchased in Bangkok, of course}. This year, there was a slight miscommunication about the actual time "dinner" starts. Depending on what part of the country you're from, it can mean 3pm, 5pm, or 7pm. We thought we were expected around 6pm, but at 5 o'clock, I received a text message asking if we were coming or not, as we were "really late." Whoops! Good thing the food was ready!


During the holidays, I often feel unmoored from all the traditions that make me anticipate the coming days - the store decorations, the radio and television shows focused on "giving thanks", the glut of holiday recipe books on display in stores and the library, and the general chatter amongst friends about holiday plans and activities. I've never been a huge holiday person to begin with, and honestly, I find it difficult to think about days like Thanksgiving when we're living overseas. It takes a lot more effort to decorate for fall and make family recipes when the weather still hovers around ninety degrees and you have to buy turkey in a different country.

But one advantage about holidays overseas is that you have to focus on why the holiday is so important - in essence, what the purpose is behind the turkey decorations and family gatherings and pumpkins. Thanksgiving is about cultivating gratitude - in my heart, in my home and relationships, and hopefully in the culture at large. It's about stopping the daily grind, the assumption that I'll always have what I have now, the taking-for-granted that we all have for things in our life that come purely from the grace of God. I don't know of any other culture that has a holiday dedicated solely to giving thanks {ok, Canada has their own Thanksgiving day, too!}. In many cultures, saying "thank you" isn't even a routine occurrence {see this article from Rachel Pieh about gratitude in the horn of Africa}.

For followers of Jesus, we know to whom our gratitude should be directed. It isn't a random, speaking-to-the-air giving of thanks, or simply thanking the people in our lives who enrich it {although that should happen, too}. We recognize that every good gift comes from God to people completely undeserving. Life itself is a grace that can be taken in an instant - or lived with an ever increasing awareness of our dependency on the Lord for its continuance.

So I'm glad that, even though holidays can be forgotten or missed, the main reason behind them remains - remembering Who grants us life, love, and happiness.

And one thing that always brings me happiness...is my Grandma Sherrard's classic pumpkin rolls.



The stars aligned this year for me to make, for the first time, a traditional family recipe that I have eaten ever since I had teeth. Every year, from November through January, my grandmother and mother make dozens of pumpkin rolls and put them in the freezer, to serve and savor throughout the holidays. It may have taken buying a can of pumpkin for $5 from Bangkok and cream cheese tucked away in my freezer since July's shopping trip in Phnom Penh, but I actually had all the ingredients to make these pumpkin rolls. And it was worth every penny!

So if you have some pumpkin leftover, indulge in these rolls and make the holidays last just a bit longer...

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• 2/3 cup pumpkin puree
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking powder