Thanksgiving in Worcester

Thanksgiving is such a great holiday; the very name explains why.  The focus is on gratitude, not gifts.  It can be exhausting, but not if people work together and share the burden.

Our Study in England students were bound and determined to make this a successful holiday, and threw themselves in to preparations.  Our student assistants organized all of us,

divvying up the duties.  Each of us on staff (or more precisely in my case, my husband) made turkeys,

and the students worked on making sides and desserts.

Helen reserved a hall on campus, and one of our student assistants and I set tables.  Kathryn channeled her inner Martha Stewart and gathered materials for centerpieces, 

and I found a cute fruit salad idea and set up plates for all the tables.

 We had quite the array of "appetizers" (which no one really ate).

Our students were encouraged to invite guests to the dinner.

We had a few, but there was plenty of room for more.

The students voted to "dress" for the occasion; they all looked very nice.

We tried our best to rise to the occasion as well.

It was a lovely occasion, and I think we were all satisfied with the outcome. More importantly, we were all grateful to be together.