The Cooper Family

On Saturday, November 27, we had the opportunity to share another Thanksgiving meal with Americans here in Switzerland. This time it was with our American friends from Lift Church. The Gile Family graciously invited all the American families from Lift. It started as the Gile Family and the Best family gathering for their first Thanksgiving in Switzerland 6 years ago. They did not want to be alone in Europe while all their American family and friends were celebrating together. This tradition has now grown to 43 guests in one Swiss home. If you know anything about Swiss housing, you know that spacious houses are not the norm. It was fantastic and we are so thankful to have been included in this tradition.

A new tradition that was started this year was the Fedor family handed everyone a gold chocolate coin. We all stood around in a circle and randomly prayed what we were THANKFUL for to God as we placed our gold coin back in the bowl. We have so much to be thankful for: friends, family, being adopted (7 of the children attending have been adopted into wonderful families), musical talents, the wonderful food, skiing, and the list went on. There is just so much we take for granted that we should be thankful for each and every day.

Everyone brought dishes to pass, so we had all the traditional American fixin’s from stuffing, mash potatoes, cranberry dishes, salads, and desserts. Oh, we can not forget the desserts. There was an entire table of desserts that included pumpkin pie, cheese cake, chocolate tortes, cake, cookies and the chocolate gold coins. Like any true American gathering… there was not shortage of delicious food.