An expat Thanksgiving

This week marked some very American traditions: Thanksgiving and Black Friday. This year I participated in one, and for the first time in many years, not the other...

First the one we did participate in: Thanksgiving. We were supposed to be away from Munich this week...in Hong Kong. When that trip was cancelled, we were left with a big holiday red X on the calendar and couldn't just ignore it...so I cooked and the Hub went to work.

We had the most traditional Thanksgiving feast I could muster: turkey, mashed potatoes, baked sweet potatoes, green beans, stuffing, cranberry relish (made by my friend L), a few dips for before dinner (made by my friend C), pumpkin pie and pumpkin bread.

For some reason I was compelled to make it traditional-this is how family traditions are solidified, right? When the kids go out and celebrate their own holidays, nothing tastes like home more than mom's recipes. I won't lie, there were a few informational calls to mom-"which is the spice Tim is allergic to that you don't put in your stuffing?", and the like.

Our guests began to arrive just after 7, after work. We had a late comer that we waited dinner for-until 8:30, and remarkably, the turkey browned as it should, the sides were warm and ready at the same time and everyone was hungry! I cooked and the Hub carved.

We had enough dining chairs for 8 if we included the 2 chairs from the kitchen, and our guests fit beautifully around the table-6 Americans and 2 Germans-for one of our German guests, it was his first Thanksgiving (and he liked the stuffing!). We had a wonderful time with new friends, yummy food and good wine. We watched my hometown team get trounced in the annual Thanksgiving game.

My friend Liz says that home is where our friends and pets and loved ones are-more of a state of mind and comfort and feeling of security/happiness...for us this year, home was seated in these chairs, eating my mom's recipes...

The thing that we didn't participate in: Black Friday. As some of you know, I was a District Manager for a major home furnishings retailer in my past life...so the weekend after Thanksgiving is a non-negotiable working weekend, as it is always the kick off to the holiday busy season. This year, I slept in and missed my friends and co-workers, my team. I was there with them in spirit-but I felt a twinge of guilt that they were there on the front lines and I was on the couch.

If it wasn't for the Munich Christmas Markets starting this weekend, I would almost have not known that the season was upon us...the Hub and I dappled in a few of them over the weekend...more on the markets to come in future posts...but for now, know that our traditions were enjoyed and experimented with here in Munich-and we did our best at preserving them while making them our own.