Friday, November 27, 2009

Thanksgiving '09

Friday, November 27, 2009
I can't believe its already been almost two years since my return to the States. Yesterday marked the second thanksgiving of mine and my family in CA. Thanksgiving Day in the US is traditionally a harvest festival celebrated to give thanks for the harvest and to express gratitude to God in general. However, for many Christians, the harvest festival is now commonly used to replace Halloween Day and so today, Thanksgiving Day has mainly become a day to simply reflect on our lives and give thanks for the year :)

One thing I learned is that turkeys here are mad CHEAP! Only $3.99!!!! My dream one day is to buy this HUGE turkey ala Mr. Bean Christmas episode and I don't care that my family are calling me crazy (I just have to invite TONS of people then!) one day I will have that gigantic turkey where you can stuff your whole head into it just you wait and see.... *determined



Anyway, lovely Thanksgiving dinner prepared by my mom alone. She loves cooking and thus dislikes it when we offer to help hmph so me not helping is totally justified :P Wait! I baked the cornbread muffins in the upper left corner! Yeah so what if its premixed why waste time making from scratch when it tastes the same and takes waaaay less time? Love America for coming up with all these products to make life easier ♥ In the future all I have to do is bake the turkey! All other stuff can be easily bought from stores :D

Before the dinner prayer, daddy made each of us say one thing we're thankful for the year and I cannot help but be thankful for so many things. I'm honestly very thankful to God for being able to have this lovely dinner still and other stuff over the year even if we've been living on no income ever since we came here. So I may not have extra privileges like eating out all the time or catching every latest movie but when I truly think about it, I have never been in want even till now. Whatever I wanted I could still afford to buy. I used to think I would have a miserable life honestly but I can now see how wrong I am. So what if I had more money in Malaysia? There weren't many things I could buy even if I wanted to spend whereas here? So many things at much better quality and at a cheaper cost :)

I'm also thankful for all the nice professors and university advisers I 'accidentally' stumbled upon this entire year. I truly believe that every single encounter was specially arranged by Him for me. Whatever I lack in resources or networks or whatever it is others have and I don't, He makes it up in other ways...no...actually He even gives extras. If I didn't have nothing, I would have never gotten all these special privileges at all as everything required me to have less in order to get more. Its not only me, even my sisters are not excluded from His abundant blessings. All expenses paid travels to other states, gift cards and presents for our first Christmas here etc.

I'm thankful for all the trips I had this year too. San Francisco, Malibu, Las Vegas, Arizona etc. Yeah guess who was grumbling inside when she kept seeing her friends facebook albums chocked full with pictures of Australia, Bangkok (and I've even been there before -_-) and other Malaysian states... It wasn't until a friend literally went 'WHAT do you mean there's nothing interesting where you live, you're in freaking LOS ANGELES for crying out loud!' did I snap out of my stupid stupor. Ya sometimes I wish I can go back in time and slap my past self for being utterly stupid and ridiculous at times ugh. I am probably one of the most ungrateful person ever.

But I am super thankful now :D

Also, I used to worry daily about our financial circumstances but now I've learned to slowly let go and to always rely on and trust completely in God. I've seen and experience enough these two years to know that its indeed the best way. He never fails you :)

Lastly, I'm incredibly thankful for having an extra two years to spend with my family before I transfer to a 4 year university next fall for my last two years of undergraduate education. To think I felt miserable and defeated that I couldn't get into a proper or famous uni or live on my own then like all my friends in other parts of the world when its actually the best thing that could have ever happened to me. While they were later pining for their family and home, I had mine right here with me every single day. Plus I'll get to thoroughly experience college life for the next two years anyway and probably four more of graduate school till I'm sick of the 'college life' lol.

So to sum it all up, I am incredibly thankful to God for this very blessed year and here's to many more blessed years to come ♥

9 comments:

f said...

FOUR DOLLARS??? Turkey in Kuching is fscking expensive wei. That's why we always use chicken instead. Cheap turkey in itself is a cause for thankfulness!! XD

But um your dinner looks awesome. :D~ Can't wait for Christmas so I can make the Christmas dinner!!! Woohoo.

Glad to see you had a great thanksgiving! ^^

hana said...

@faye: Its 4 bucks if you buy $25 worth of groceries which is practically your entire thanksgiving dinner anyway so yeah :p

You always use chicken in kuching? I still used turkey in kuching every year leh. Got people use chicken meh? Thats new to me....

I AM SO MAKING CHRISTMAS DINNER LIAO IF YOURE MAKING LOL *competition mode on wth lol

Yes, I had a nice thanksgiving holiday :) Thanks!

Amanda said...

WTF FOUR BUCKS!!!! even with the $25 it is still cheap as hell okay like HELLO TURKEY ALONE IN THIS DAMNED COUNTRY COSTS RM 200+ OKAY AND THAT WAS TWO YEARS AGO SO THE PRICE MUST HAVE GONE UP which is like usd 50+ but apparently if i buy the turkey i get to shit gold WTF i'm not the one saying it ah the advert flier told me.

Ammy said...

wtffff why you go moderate your stupid comments ah i want to re read also cannot hmmph hate you

also, no need to approve this comment ah i dowan to see it on

also, DOES THIS MEAN I CAN TALK TO YOU LIKE THIS???? because honestly it is like you are ignoring me by not making any effort in contacting me at all, which makes me quite sad but i cannot quit on this twinship no matter how much you ignore me so HMMMMMMPH TRY TO SHAKE ME OFF AH YOU STUPID PIECE OF SHIT I AM HERE TO STAY *fumes for no apparent reason wtf*

Amanda said...

p/s faye your emoticon looks like it has a very fucked up mustache haning off it's bottom lip WTF

hana said...

@ammy: sorry lah I have to moderate cuz I keep getting stupid comments from stupid people -.-

200? YEAH RIGHT. I don't think so. I buy a huge turkey every effing year ok and I do not think it costs 200. Shall ask my mummy liao. 200 your head lah.

shit gold wteff lol lidat send me shit for christmas LOL.

I wanted to email you the other day actually then dunno why i forgot. something urgent came up i think. sorry :P

f said...

[ammy]LOL It's drooling. But I suppose you knew that. XD

[hana]Yeah we used chicken every year. Since it seems to pass as turkey we might as well stick to it.

Is that a challenge I hearrrr?

BRING IT ON BABY >D

hana said...

@ammy: OK IT COSTS AROUND $70 RAW and around 200 cooked like you said. wth I never knew. I always thought turkeys were damn cheap ah. NOW I APPRECIATE MY FOUR BUCKS TURKEY A LOT.

@faye: but chicken is not turkey! its different! omg visit me one day ok and I WILL SERVE YOU TURKEY! :D

and yes thats a challenge. DAMMIT IM SERIOUS NOW! YOSH! We shall both blog about it ok ok ok?! YAY!

f said...

Youre on!!! :D