Thanksgiving Dinner at Chamorro Village

So Thanksgiving is over, and the first Sunday of Advent has arrived.  We still haven't finished the leftovers, and we didn't even read all of our Thanksgiving books (okay, the one we didn't read is the one with lots of text that intimidates my early readers, The Pilgrims of Plimouth), but we've put up some Christmas greens and placed the Advent wreath on the table with a new braided palm frond decoration.  We couldn't pack candles so I need to find some candles somewhere.  But even though Advent has begun, here's a rehash of helping out at the Salvation Army's Thanksgiving dinner, courtesy the Guam Pacific Daily News online since I didn't take any photos. The event was held at the Chamorro Village dining area, which wasn't nearly big enough for all the volunteers and participants. People arrived by nine for lunch at 11. Volunteers from the air force base were in charge of carving hams and turkeys donated by the local hotels.  Our family mostly served as runners from the carving stations to the serving stations, although we also helped carry food to the man'amkos, or elderly and  handicapped.  The servers were heaping the plates, and I feared that the food would run out. Even little kids were getting plates loaded with meat, red rice, stuffing, pancit, cranberries, corn, rolls, and other vegetables. And the desserts! But this must have been a case of the multiplying turkeys, because by the end of the day, after everyone had been allowed to go through the line again if they so chose, there was still food on the line, which was taken across the street to the soup kitchen to be made into stew.

Of the various performers, a couple of young brothers on ukulele's
were the most talented. They drew a crowd, including my two
youngest, sitting on the floor down front.

The serving line at Chamorro Village.
One of my kids is in the orange hat in the background

Perhaps not the most talented, but the most entertaining of the performers
was this couple. The husband, whose shoes and back were emblazoned with
"Elvis Loves You," seemed to have bones of cartilage. He danced like
Kermit the frog, only groovier. 

The lieutenant governor serves red rice, while my husband chats
in the background.

The Just Say No hiphop dance group.

A sampling of pies and cakes. Since I wasn't sure what time we'd
be back from serving, I invited people for dessert.

The turkey was so pretty I wished we had company
to enjoy it. Considering we've been eating it for 3 days
now, I figure it was enough to feed at least 24.