Thanksgiving and the Marine Corps Ball

Its weird to do things in Australia for the second time. That means we've been here for awhile now. But we live in another country . . . you only do things once when you live abroad, right? Its just a little strange to think we've been here for going on 15 months- it really doesn't feel like that long.

This year we repeated our now Thanksgiving tradition of bring the glory that is the greatest American holiday to the Aussies. Although, we realized later that by Aussies we apparently meant 4 Aussies, 2 Brits, 2 Lebanese, and a Papua New Guinean. Laurel works in a very international office. The only downside is we have to do it on a Saturday since Laurel, strangely, doesn't get Thanksgiving day off. Regardless, we had a blast, the weather cooperated (it stormed that morning and night, but not during the day) so we could eat outside in the sun. Just like last year, we grilled the turkey, and if possible, it was even better this year. Mmmmm, turkey.

We got too excited to eat and forgot to take pictures before, but here is the spread after everyone had already filled up their plates at least once. We made turkey, roasted vegetables, mashed potatos, green bean casserole, and dressing. Our guests brought an absolutely amazing potato salad with bacon and chives, homemade chocolate-drizzled profiteroles, a tiramasu with raspberries, and lebanese treats. Needless to say, no one went home hungry.

In the similar vein of things we have done for the second time, the Marine Corps Ball rolled around again. This is a really big event for the Embassy here. Everyone goes. Its kind of the one thing that's not required to attend, but yeah, its required to attend.  We had a lot of fun though. Here are the two of us, with Laurel modelling her new dress and hair fastenater. Fastenater are the must have accesory for every Aussie girl going to a fancy party. Hats are soooooooo last season.

 

Kissy picture alert!

The flags being presented before dinner.

And a couple more pics of us to round off the night. Hate to waste a good photo-op.