This is how astronauts celebrate Thanksgiving in space

Americans don’t have to be on Earth to get a day off for Thanksgiving. In a video published Monday, NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren and Scott Kelly spoke about their plans for the holiday.

“We’re gonna have the day off, which is great. We’re gonna watch some football,” said Kelly. Usually, the schedules of the International Space Station (ISS) crew are packed with science experiments and ISS maintenance work, among other things.

“We’re also gonna have a little Thanksgiving dinner of space food,” said Kelly. “We got some turkey, it’s smoked turkey. And some candied yams here. Some rehydratable corn and some potatoes au gratin.” Space.com notes that the two plan to share their traditional meal with the other, non-American members of the crew. Which is nice, except it all looks like paste. And neither could keep a straight face as they dug in.

“Wow,” Kelly said, biting into the yam, “they are delicious.” The yam does not look delicious.

Still, the astronauts seemed to be in good spirits when they spoke about what they’re thankful for this year. Lindgren said he was thankful for his friends, family, and NASA colleagues, adding that he’s grateful for his stint on the ISS:

We are incredibly thankful for the opportunity to be up here on the International Space Station, working and living in this amazing orbiting laboratory, a physical manifestation of what is possible when the great countries of the world work together with communication, cooperation and collaboration towards peaceful means.

Kelly spoke about his love for America, and how it feels to learn about Earthly tragedies from space:

Being on the space station here and looking down at our incredibly beautiful planet gives us a different perspective on what it means to be citizens of planet Earth and since I’ve been up here, we’ve seen so many bad things that often happen down there… it just makes me really thankful to live in a country like the United States that provides us with freedom and opportunity. For me, being a middle class kid from New Jersey, to just have the privilege to come up here and represent my country like this. So this is what I’m thankful for this Thanksgiving.