Remembering Thanksgivings Past

Several people are blogging about how much they love Thanksgiving and I agree with them that it's a great holiday, particularly because it has no religious and consumerist undertones (well, except for Black Friday -- yuck! I can't wait for the day when I won't need to go buy stuff because I need to get them for cheap). You may have noticed that we don't do Haloween and Easter and I know we shouldn't really do Christmas either if we were to be completely coherent, but I love exchanging presents (more on that some other time). Thanksgiving, however, the quintessential American holiday, was a celebration that we had to be taught about and grow into. It was not until we had the privilege of spending the day with a "typical" American family (New Englanders) for several generations, in 1999 that we finally "got it."

In 1996 when we had been here only a few months, K's uncle came with his family to share the Thanksgiving dinner with us, but I really had no idea what the holiday was about and how it's traditionally celebrated. The community college where K was an ESL (English as a Second Language) student organized a nice dinner for the students with Turkey (which we as vegetarians didn't eat) and all the "fixins," but we didn't like the food much.

In 1997 we went to a Brazilian friend's house and in 1998 we were home alone, just the two of us (I think that was when the sad story that I shared last year took place) . Then, in 1999 we were invited to go to our friend's house and celebrate with her, her husband and two sons, and her extended family: her parents, sisters and their children. We were delighted that their opened their home to us and the food was positively delicious -- I've been making the yams with pecan praline that she prepared every year since (recipe here!). At some point during the day they started watching old videos of old Thanksgiving celebrations that took place in the New Jersey home in which my friend grew up and which had parents had sold years earlier. The children present were babies/toddlers then and it was fun to watch them so much younger. It was just lovely! We not only learned from them how a proper Thanksgiving meal should be, but also caught the whole "spirit" of being together with family that is at the center of this holiday. We were supposed to celebrate Thanksgiving with them again in 2000, but she had to cancel at the last minute and we went to one of K's professor's house instead -- that's why we became homeowners in 2001, but that's another story.

In 2002 we started a "trend" that would last for three years -- driving all the way from Massachusetts to Michigan (with a baby in tow and later two) to spend Thanksgiving with my brother- and sister-in-law. It was a grueling trip, 14-16 hours long each way, but it was lovely to spend time with them in frigid Michigan, besides by then we knew that this is what the holiday was all about, being with your loved ones. The worst of the three trips was in 2003 when Kelvin was a 20 month old toddler who wanted to walk all the time. In 2004 we had the two of them (Linton was 6 months old) and we did half of the trip during night hours so they could sleep -- exhausting! We cherished those times of family togetherness, though and the last year, 2004, was the must fun because we got to meet my 2 month old nephew for the first time and enjoy our two babies (Linton and his cousin are only 4 months apart).

We hosted Thanksgiving at our house in the past two years since BIL and his family moved here to Maryland, only 2h30m away. In 2005 it was a "mega-celebration." My parents were living with us, my mother-in-law was visiting from Brazil, one of K's cousins drove from D.C. with his dad (also visiting from Brazil) and a longtime friend, and we invited my MIL's brother to come down from New Jersey with his family (three daughters and a boyfriend). It was great! Everyone loved the food, particularly a galon of apple cider that I didn't realize was spoiled until later (it was fermented -- the funniest thing is that nobody in the group drinks alcohol and we were joking with those who enjoyed the "hard" cider the most) and the triple cranberry bread that I made (I baked one last night). We also took several lovely photos of my MIL with her three grandsons, but the highlight of the day was poring over all the adds for Black Friday. There was so much competition that each man bought his own newspaper to have his own ads.
It was hilarious to see the gang (all the guys, including my dad plus my mother-in-law) getting ready to spend the horribly cold night "camping out" outside electronics store (that they don't do anymore :) -- they only made it because they were in a large group and were talking all night long while trying not to freeze. Their return home for breakfast was also very interesing, all those bleary eyes and tousled "hat hairs" comparing the bargains and drinking hot chocolate -- I laughed a lot.

Last year it was just us, my in-laws (who moved to the U.S. on May 06) and my brother-in-law and his family -- with the addition of my new nephew, 4 months old. There was still some (disappointing) shopping on Friday (BIL didn't participate because they drove back home on Thursday) and then we drove to Massachusetts to visit my in-laws for a few days while K went to Brazil in one of his several excursions back in Oct/Nov last year.

This year we have downsized even more, it's just the two brothers and their families. The boys are enjoying their time together and my SIL and I are busy and happy in the kitchen since we love to cook and we do it identical ways so we get along extremely well. OK, gotta go help her and finish my cooking projects for the day (these two recipes) while the boys are in the playrgrounds with their dads.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, I hope you enjoyed 'hearing' my stories. If you want to hear the funniest turkey blooper story ever, head over to Susan's place. :)

P.S. I'll come back later to include photos in this post since I'm using my SIL's computer.