Happy Thanksgiving!

Can of Libby's pumpkin: 5 euro
Gravy packet: 2 euro
14 lb Turkey: 55 euro
Thanksgiving in Holland: priceless!
It was a Thanksgiving like no other for us; the girls went at school, Chris went to work, and I had to cook the Turkey. Hmmm... I picked it up from the 'chicken man' and was shocked that it was not a cute little bundle of a turkey like you get from Butterball. When I got home and proceded to take it out of the bag, I couldn't do it. Few things gross me out, now I know that preparing a turkey is one of them. I made an urgent call to Chris and he came home early to prepare our bird. We were able to find all of the necessary side ingredients at our favorite market. Some friends from school came over, along with a friend from Chris' work. After dinner the boys watched a few minutes of the football game on the computer. Hmmm....just not the same.

Thanksgiving, as you can imagine, is not celebrated here, but did you know that the Pilgrims lived in Leiden, Holland before sailing to the new world? They left England in 1609 and came to Holland. They stayed until 1620 and then left on a ship called the Speedwell. That ship began taking water, so they crowded onto the Mayflower and the rest is...history.
So, we decided to take a trip to Leiden on Saturday. It's a cute town on canals-of course, and only 30 minutes away. We went to a Pilgrim Museum that was an actual house that they lived in. Our main observations were that it was tiny(basically one 8'x10' room) and it was very dark inside. The other interesting aspect of Leiden is that Sinterklaas lives there while he is in Holland for 2 weeks, and you can visit his house. We couldn't pass it up. Too many Zwarte Petes to count and Sinterklaas was dancing to the music. I must say that he has some good moves that might give Santa a run for his money. Chris and I just laughed and shook our heads, oh, and took some pictures.
We don't quite get Sinterklaas. He is just for the kids in The Netherlands, he comes in for 3 weeks to shower them with gifts, and then goes on Holiday for the rest of year to Spain. Sounds like a pretty good gig.