I slept in, signed online and watched President Obama pardon a turkey. It may not be waking up to the smell of turkey roasting in the oven or turning on football, but it’ll do.

If you’re wondering what Thanksgiving will look like for me: Today I’ll enjoy a quiet day off with my team, watching movies and baking, we’ll teach a normal day tomorrow, and then Saturday we’ll head to Changchun for a DongbeiThanksgiving celebration with other Americans from our company. There’ll be games, lots of food and good friends.

I’ve spent the week teaching my students about Thanksgiving traditions and sharing why I’m thankful to be in China even though it’s hard to be away from family. They made Thankful Turkeys and shared them with the class Today I’m sharing banana bread muffins with school officials and others who take care of us here on campus and have made this semester already so memorable.

Already it’s been a really great holiday week. I don’t have any muffins to share with you, but I do want to wish a Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! I pray it’s a day filled with family, friends, food, and remembering all of the many blessings we have.