Dear Friends and Families,

I think Thanksgiving is my favorite American holiday because it means family and friends. Living overseas, far away from family, makes us especially cherish a gathering of friends at this season.

Friend #1 this year was Nancy, who came from Virginia just for the long weekend. We have known Nancy and her husband Steve since our time in Kiev, when Nancy and Marianne both worked at "KIS", Kyiv International School. This year, Steve was just coming back from a long overseas trip, but Nancy still wanted to travel on her school break, so they met for a couple hours at Dulles Airport, swapped car keys and stories and Nancy headed East.
	Marianne had been cooking for a couple of days and was glad to have her friend to help, chat with, and generally make the preparations more fun.
	Since our new Grand Ballroom isn't quite ready, we set up a pair of tables in the living room and invited a wonderful mixture of neighbors and friends. Everyone enjoyed the food and the friendship.
	The next morning, we headed over to the bakery, just to make sure we had enough to eat in the house. The early morning chill kept us in a holiday spirit and provided some nice pictures too.

Speaking of holiday spirits, on this day after Thanksgiving, instead of normal American shopping, we are starting our 2008 Christmas Market Tour, complete with shopping, eating, and drinking. It's truly a better way, but those are the next stories.

John and Marianne