It's been 18 years since I first moved to the US - and over the years, although we have adopted many American customs and traditions - the Thanksgiving dinner has not been one of these!! No turkey for us - although, I never did say to pumpkin pie!! Actually, the only real American Thanksgiving dinner I've been to is in Michigan Tech - when my advisor, Dr. R, kindly invited me and a couple of other Indian students to his home. Of course, at that time, none of us knew anything about Thanksgiving, and Dr. R didn't know that we didn't know - so it was a bit of an awkward situation, 3 vegetarians sitting down to a turkey dinner!! Poor guy - he ended up taking us out for pizza in the end!!
Fast forward to last weekend - and the Thanksgiving celebration here in Golden Lough!! This is not new - in fact, every year that we've lived here - we've been invited to the GL Thanksgiving - but somehow, I have never been able to go. Oh, I had plenty of excuses - I can't make any of the traditional dishes, I don't eat turkey, I don't know most of the people - bit silly, really!! Anyway, this year, Manasi really wanted to go - all her friends would be there - and I didn't really feel right about sending her by herself without at least making an appearance myself. Moreover, my friends, SB, MW and AM - thanks, ladies! - didn't really give me a choice!!
And what do you know, I actually had a really good time!! It was a wonderful party - hosted jointly by the Ss and the Ms - almost 75 people, a huge, huge turnout!! Everyone brought a dish to share - and I guess I should have stepped up and made an appetizer or something - I compromised by bringing a box of Belgian truffles!! In any case, there was a staggering amount of food - all the traditional Thanksgiving fixings - turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls - and 3 kinds of pies, plus a bunch of other desserts!! Green bean casserole and mac and cheese made a perfect dinner for me!!
The big difference this year was the number of 'foreigners' - translated as non-Americans - really, we are all foreigners in this country!! But the Europeans - mainly the Brits - joined in with a gusto!! Anyway, wasn't it really the British who sat down to the first Thansgiving meal - they weren't Americans until much later, were they?!! I did not voice this thought in public - perhaps not entirely politically correct??!! More the merrier, though!! And even though I had gone with the fullest intention of only staying a short time, I stayed till the end - and it really was fun!!
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!
Fast forward to last weekend - and the Thanksgiving celebration here in Golden Lough!! This is not new - in fact, every year that we've lived here - we've been invited to the GL Thanksgiving - but somehow, I have never been able to go. Oh, I had plenty of excuses - I can't make any of the traditional dishes, I don't eat turkey, I don't know most of the people - bit silly, really!! Anyway, this year, Manasi really wanted to go - all her friends would be there - and I didn't really feel right about sending her by herself without at least making an appearance myself. Moreover, my friends, SB, MW and AM - thanks, ladies! - didn't really give me a choice!!
And what do you know, I actually had a really good time!! It was a wonderful party - hosted jointly by the Ss and the Ms - almost 75 people, a huge, huge turnout!! Everyone brought a dish to share - and I guess I should have stepped up and made an appetizer or something - I compromised by bringing a box of Belgian truffles!! In any case, there was a staggering amount of food - all the traditional Thanksgiving fixings - turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls - and 3 kinds of pies, plus a bunch of other desserts!! Green bean casserole and mac and cheese made a perfect dinner for me!!
The big difference this year was the number of 'foreigners' - translated as non-Americans - really, we are all foreigners in this country!! But the Europeans - mainly the Brits - joined in with a gusto!! Anyway, wasn't it really the British who sat down to the first Thansgiving meal - they weren't Americans until much later, were they?!! I did not voice this thought in public - perhaps not entirely politically correct??!! More the merrier, though!! And even though I had gone with the fullest intention of only staying a short time, I stayed till the end - and it really was fun!!
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!
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