As is the tradition in the United States, Thanksgiving Day is a celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November and is considered a national holiday. Traditionally, it is a time to give thanks for the harvest and express gratitude in general  where a thanksgiving dinner is held, usually as a gathering of family members and friends. The Friday after thanksgiving is usually referred to as Black Friday marking the start of the Christmas shopping season. Though not a national holiday, most stores and outlets remain open for 24 hours on Black Friday and give out massive discounts on their products.

For the Kenyan community in the United States, thanksgiving has over the years been a time where they reconnect with old friends and have a long weekend celebration that starts on Thursday. Traditionally, Kenyans from all over the US flock to Atlanta for secular parties all weekend long while Christians flock to Dallas. This year is no exception. However, in the Christian community, there are new additions. As happened last year, there's going to be two different celebrations taking place, one in Dallas and another in Atlanta.

Let's start with the Dallas celebrations. For the 9th year, Upendo Church, which is one of the largest Kenyan churches in the US, will be hosting the event. The Thanksgiving conference starts on Thursday 26th November 2009 till Sunday and Upendo Church Young Adults (UPYA) will be running the program. As usual, the conference is very kind to the pockets with registration at $40 per person or $50 per couple. You also get free home cooked meals, free transportation around Dallas, free hotel stay for the entire 4 days at the Hyatt Hotel with close vicinity to the famous Galleria mall and not forgetting a bask in the awesome Dallas weather. Speakers for the conference include Pastor Terren Dames, Pastor Samson Muniu and Pastor Morne Slabberts. There will be a wide selection of performances from Voices of Africa- Dallas, Twisted Optiks- Cambordia, K.Jean- Congo, God's Replikah- Tanzania and Upendo Baptist Church Worship Team among others. DJ Fresh will spinning the best in Kenyan Gospel music on Thursday and Friday night complete with a live video mixx. Get the registration form at www.upendochurch.org/upya.html and check out last year's recap here. 
 

In Atlanta, Christ Harvesters Church plays host to the celebrations starting on Thursday. There are various speakers and musical acts lined up on Thursday and Friday. On Saturday, it's all gears go as the church hosts the 2nd Annual Talanta Awards. Voting has been extended till the 18th of November and you can place your vote at Talanta Awards official site here. Numerous artists nominated for the awards have confirmed participation at the event. Atleast one artist based in Kenya, Kamau Karongo (video1 and video2) is confirmed to be attending the celebration with the rest yet to confirm. Thereafter, on Saturday night, Badilika's DJ Jey and DJ Fresh will host the official Talanta Awards After Party with an extreme Gospel Jam. On Sunday, there will be a service at the Church and thereafter a huge Concert and Gospel Jam with dozens of artists at 2pm. Check out detailed information about talanta awards here and also check out last year's recap here

For those who will miss out on either of the two Thanksgiving conferences, we plan on streaming them live on KenyanGospel.com (as we did last year... check out the recaps for past videos). Check back to this site for the streams although we are not making any promises as it will depend on a number of factors.