The Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving marked the second straight year being away from my family for my favorite holiday. Last year, I celebrated the day with a small group of volunteers. This year, more than 100 volunteers descended upon Cerra Punta (up near the Costa Rican border) for a two day Turkeyfest.

After about 8 hours of traveling on Wednesday – which was short compared to some friends – we kicked off the two days with some relaxing and a few drinks. The next day featured dinner around 5, phone calls to family and more drinking and dancing. Somehow, I didn’t get to do two of my favorite things on Thanksgiving – watch football and a post dinner nap. Don’t worry, though, I will more than make up for missing out on those two things next year.

While it was sad to be away from family again, it was great to be with my other family. One thing that made things easier was the surrounding area made me feel like I was home in West Virginia. Cerra Punta is tucked inside the mountains and the landscape reminded me of being near Elkins, West Virginia. We even had a stream running down the outside of our room. Plus, the weather was actually cool there. I was wearing a light sweater Thanksgiving day, which never happens in my community. I’m more likely to be wearing a layer of sweat.

Of course, the main key to any Thanksgiving is the meal. And after some false starts with getting the turkeys in the oven, things tured out very good. Just a notch below my Aunt Randy’s cooking., though.