Thanksgiving (US Part II)

Thanksgiving Day is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November in the US and has traditionally been a way of giving thanks to God for the things one has at the close of the harvest season. Today, Thanksgiving is the biggest holiday of the year and is the main get-together for most American families. So on 23 November we went up to Kentucky to celebrate Thanksgiving with Raymond's family in Raymond's childhood home (see picture 3).

On the way to Kentucky we stopped over in Tennessee to stay at Shelby's childhood home (picture 1 shows the barn). The drive through Tennessee and Kentucky was very beautiful especially when we crossed the Clinch mountain ridge (picture 2).

When we arrived in Kentucky the table was already set for a traditional Thanksgiving feast: lots of different kinds of food (picture 5), desserts and drinks. And of course football on the tv for the boys. Nice!! Additionally the weather was very nice so we all had a good day with the family.

Anne Sofie was happy to meet Raymond's family again since she had also gone to the Thanksgiving dinner in 1999. And I continued my practice of the various American accents now including Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky. One thing I have learned, which holds true for all three accents, is that y'all (you all) can in fact be a way of greeting a single person - as when people ask me "how are y'all doing"...

By the way, those folks up in Kentucky don't seem to be too proud of their road signs - if you enlarge picture 4 you can try to count the bullet holes in the Kentucky sign...