I learned a decade ago that in order for me to enjoy any part of guests coming to dinner, I needed to prep. This is more true of holiday meals than any other event.  There is always a bit more to do the day of and to be present with people, I need to have the things done.  

Prepping for guests

This year, prep started about a month early when I invited guests.  Over the past two years, Thanksgiving has been limited to just a few on the MCC team due to Covid-19.  With vaccines abundant and the office and schools open again, I got a bit carried away with invitations this year.  All the people I have thought of inviting, but couldn’t, suddenly became 16 guests plus our family of 4.  Fortunately, there are a few enthusiastic Americans among the guests, clamoring to make some of the food!  And my Cambodian friends have offered to come early to help set up anything that needs done.

Prepping the food

The first few years here in Cambodia, I made chickens for Thanksgiving since chickens cost about $4-5 a piece and turkeys are $100.  Still, baking chickens is not easy in an open-fire oven.  Everything dries out and its difficult to get things to cook evenly.  Foil, basting and constant attention helped things turn out ok, but it was a lot of work the day of the event.  Last year, Charles came down with chikungunya 2 weeks before the holiday and was very, very sick during my normal prep time (and the day of Thanksgiving, and for weeks/months after).  An MCCer who has been here for many years suggested that I order the chicken.  I jumped on the idea and was absolutely delighted to discover a place here in the city which will roast 4lb chickens with sage, onion and thyme for authentically spiced Thanksgiving meat!  We will repeat this successful experience this year, freeing up my small oven to warm the side dishes.

Last weekend, the girls and I spent most of Saturday making apple pies and pumpkin cookies and Sunday afternoon making hand turkeys for decorations.  On Tuesday, one SALTer came over to make the pumpkin pies.  The other SALTer will travel to the city this weekend and make the sweet potato casserole.  Wednesday evening, I prepared the dairy-free mushroom soup for the green bean casserole.  Thursday, I put together the green bean casserole, made the chicken broth for the stuffing, and chopped the carrots.  Friday, I enlisted the assistance of friends to get tables set up, dishes stacked and silverware counted.  Saturday will be the final touches – cooking and glazing the carrots, baking the stuffing, heating the frozen corn and green bean casserole and maybe I will have time to make the mashed potatoes or maybe we will skip them this year.  Then there will be table set up and getting the girls dressed and, of course, slicing the delivered rotisserie chickens onto platters.  This year I am also hoping to do a gratitude tree to capture some of the moments and memories of thankfulness that people share during the day.  

Prepping my heart

Guests come from 8 countries and for about half of them, it will be their first Thanksgiving experience.  While we will not be doing a pilgrims and Indians program, I do hope that we can enjoy some time together reflecting on what has happened this past year that we are grateful for.  Gratitude is the enemy of discouragement, and I confess to feeling a large share of discouragement this autumn season as Charles and I have struggled with the work load amid changing staff and the team’s high emotions following Disha’s medical emergency last summer.  

MCC Executive Director Ann Graber-Hershberger wrote us a note of encouragement a few weeks ago, reminding us that following traumatic events, our immune systems will be lower for at least 6 months and that we should take extra care of ourselves and our staff.  This was a good reminder that even though Disha is doing very well following her stroke and is home with her family in India, the staff and volunteers on the MCC Cambodia team who sat by her side 24 hours a day for weeks, afraid she would die and not wanting her to be alone, continue to need extra care and tenderness.  We have authorized extra time off for those staff and organized a day of wellness with a local Christian counseling center for them.  Many of these staff will be at our Thanksgiving celebration this year and it is my prayer that they will find the Thanksgiving experience to be full of connection, laughter, gratitude and hope.