The American celebration of Thanksgiving is one of the most important holidays in the United States. This is not a festival that we celebrate in the Netherlands, but we wanted to give the Bridgebuilders who traveled to the US this past summer this special experience.

So on November 17th (the real Thanksgiving was November 23rd this year) we got everyone together at the Vierslag, invited guests and celebrated our Turkey Day!

With thanks to all the Americans who supplied food and ideas, and our EVS interns who helped organize it all, our program started by the Bridgebuilders writing down all the things they were thanful for that year and hanging them in our thank you tree. Then they watched the 2010 Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. This was followed by an explanation about the history of Thanksgiving and its meaning in current American society.

They got creative with a special Thanksgiving-themed cup cake decorating (and eating!).

After this we had our mouthwatering dinner which featured (among other things) scalloped patatoes, glazed carrots, green bean salad, sweet patatoes with marshmellow topping and of course a turkey with stuffing! It was all a little unusual for our Dutch guests, but they overcame their cultural boundaries, tasted everything and asked for recepies afterwards!

After all this, we still had a little room for desert: a pumpkin pie (courtesy of one our Bridgebuilders's mom) and apple crisp with ice cream!

We finished the evening with a few fun thanksgiving games and a special movie!

And given that it was the Sinterklaas season, the Bridgebuilders who stayed the night for the Bridgebuilder Weekend celebrated the Dutch tradition by putting their shoes by the door. Luckily they had been well-behaved and they all found candy in them the following morning.

For an impression of this unforgettable night, check out the photos below!