So I'm not from here; I'm a lawful permanent resident, or Green Card holder, or resident alien, whichever you want to call it (IMMIGRANT, even), and my whole family save myself and my parents is across the Atlantic in England. We don't do your standard Thanksgiving with the football game and the marshmallowed yams and the traditional argument about what Doug said about Sharon in 1986 and whether Mom really wanted Barb to have the fish-slice or if it should have gone to Candace instead. We don't even have that cranberry glop that comes in a can and is extracted in one corrugated cylinder of jelly.
What we generally do is go to somebody else's house for Thanksgiving, someone who Cooks, and we bring a dish. This year, though, we did it at home, and the menu included roast lamb, roast and mashed potatoes, broccoli and cauliflower, asparagus and prosciutto, and the Magic Lemon Pudding which I made this year and which came out surprisingly edible notwithstanding.
It's a little surprising to me how much it actually meant to have a Proper Holiday with my parents at home, rather than at one of our friends' houses; how much it meant to borrow my dad's ancient apron with pigs printed all over it and argue about how to separate eggs and whether one should or should not attempt to re-make the cheese sauce since the milk might possibly have been a little past its best, and quote the Goon Show to one another and laugh like drains. After dinner we walked around the block and then had the dessert, and now I'm typing this at the dinner-table on my MacBook which I will need to use later tonight to do homework for my one class and research homework for the other.
I think what I'm trying to say here is that although this is not a Traditional Thanksgiving it feels like what a Thanksgiving should be: a shared experience with one's well-loved relatives, appreciating how lucky one actually is despite how often it feels otherwise, enjoying good food and good company and togetherness.
I hope all of you out there are sharing this enjoyment, and that the holiday treats you right.
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2 comments:
Hey, that sounds like a much nicer version of my usual Thanksgiving holiday. There's usually one really awful political discussion thrown in where somebody's vein pops out of his neck or we have to be told to keep our voices down.
My boyfriend and I stayed in Baltimore and I definitely missed the family, multiple dinners, political arguments, and cheating at board games included--although it was nice to have our first ever (we've been together for over six years) holiday alone.
Mine was spent in cowboy boots, driving waaaaay out into the country and pretending to like turkey. Does anyone actally like turkey?
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