This weekend, I celebrated Thanksgiving down in Bowral. Jo's side of the family has celebrated Turkey Day since they lived in America about 20 years ago. Josh, the bottomless pit, was in heaven.
Generally, it's 8-10 people at dinner but this year, it was a bash of about 30 people. Marisa, BJ, Natalie, Steve, Kalee and Katie were all in attendance. Just to back track, Kalee and Katie are UF girls as well. Kalee and I did a wedding planning internship together in Gainesville about two years ago. Her and Katie, better known as Fabe, moved to Australia about a month ago to spend a year working and traveling. They are just two hot babes from Florida living the dream and having a blast. I met Steve through BJ at the beginning of October when we were at the races. Steve and BJ went to school together and have been friends for years. Natalie and Steve recently started dating a few months ago and make the sweetest couple. Marisa and I instantly fell in love with Nat and have been friends ever since.
(from the left) Katie, Marisa, Kalee, Natalie and me!
Anyway, I was so thrilled to have three American friends celebrate Thanksgiving with me (Marisa, Kalee and Fabe) because I knew they would be the only ones that would appreciate the over sized portions and be able to teach our Aussie friends some good 'ol drinking games. Beer pong would have been our first choice but unfortunately, we didn't have ping pong balls so we opted for Flip Cup. Naturally, the Americans dominated. Let me also say that it's cocky remarks like the one I just made that make the rest of the world hate the U.S. so maybe I should tone it down a bit.
Thanksgiving also coincided with Steve's 35th birthday so we had a joint celebration. We decided to haze him about and make him a sign of 35 things to complete by the end of the night. Some of the tasks included, eating with his left hand, playing footsie at the dinner table with someone other than Natalie (BJ was chosen one), running nude around the outside of the house (BJ also took part in this one) and using the words, "y'all, bless it and oh, my heavens" all in the same sentence, thanks to our gorgeous Southern bell, Kalee. Thanksgiving day festivities started around noon and by 9pm, there were only a few boxes checked off the list so Dave went into action and went through every challenge on the list until they were all completed. Several bottles of alcohol later and lots of photos being taken, Steve could finally be left alone and head out to the bars. What a trooper!
So, here I am left with great memories of another great Thanksgiving. I suppose this is the part where I should say what I'm thankful for. I'm thankful for my parents and my brothers. I'm thankful for the girlfriends, husbands and significant others that make my family even bigger. I'm thankful for grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and my future niece/nephew. I'm thankful for Dave, Jo, James and Josh for having the opportunity to be part of their lives for an entire year. I'm thankful that I get to live in such a beautiful country where I have new experiences everyday and meet people from all over the world. I'm thankful for my friends from home and my friends I've met here. And it wouldn't be Thanksgiving if I didn't say that I am thankful for (you guessed it) Heeleys. Honestly, I feel like I could go on all day. I have a lot to be thankful for this year.
