Thanksgiving in Honduras

It's 2:30 am and I'm awake. This is becoming my usual writing time. It's quiet, except for Alfredo our burro who, as soon as he sees the light come on, gets up from under our bedroom window and comes around to the back door to see what I'm doing, no doubt hoping for a snack...which I usually give him. After a few minutes he goes back to bed.

I'm spending more time blogging lately than working on my book. Blogging is more fun. I've been putting off a lot of things lately. Paperwork is one of those things, although for the first time in 30 years I actually have a bookkeeper other than myself. And it's required by law here. How cool is that?

This past Thursday was Thanksgiving. Here's the thing which really struck me as odd. All the Gringos I know here in Honduras were celebrating and all around us Honduras went on as usual. That felt really strange. I mean, back home Thanksgiving is the most observed holiday next to Christmas. No one works on Thanksgiving...well almost no one. This holiday is uniquely American.

We went to the Hagler's for dinner. Yuly came with us as well as two friends, one from Tegucigalpa and one from Zambrano and one of our "daughters" from the language school. Several other families were there also. The food was delicious, the company excellent, the view outstanding. We brought our TV and NFL Gamepass the boys coerced me into buying so they could watch NFL down here (actually they paid for most of the subscription) and we watched Dallas beat Oakland. None of us particularly cared who won, but it was fun to hang out together.



The food line.



Watching the game


Later, those of us who were either too full, too decrepit or too wise, watched those who were young or foolish, there was no one who wasn't full, play "real" football, American style, from the front porch.



Playing the game

Oddly, the weather which had been beautiful, turned chilly and overcast. If it hadn't been 65 degrees out I would have sworn snow was on the way. Honestly... it felt cold. We were all bundled up in sweaters and scarves. It was actually kind of neat because it felt very fallish and New England Thanksgivingish. (Two words you probably won't find in the dictionary)

Living down here has made me realize how much we have to be thankful for. One of the things I am continually grateful for are the friendships we have made these past eight months. They continue to deepen and to be a blessing and encouragement to us. Although we missed family deeply, it was good to spend Thanksgiving with good friends.