Thanksgiving on a Sunday

Every year the same question -- when can we fit a Thanksgiving celebration into our over-scheduled November?  Since our older kids were in kindergarten, we have celebrated this very American tradition with Maureen's family, also a mixed marriage in that her husband is German and she is from California (but I love her anyway!).   Because Thanksgiving is a uniquely USAmerican holiday, there is obviously no special Thursday off for our husbands and kids here in Germany, so being the flexible women that we are, we pick a weekend somewhere around the real date when our children do not have a sports event or need to work and go for it. 

On that day, our families get together to cook, eat and play games.    We've standardized our menu over the years, so there is little pre-organization other than grocery shopping required.  As Maureen has been traipsing around Australia for the last two months, her daughter Katrin took over the reigns in procuring the turkey this year.  Their family has great connections to the American commissary, so it falls on them to make sure we get a Butterball, real Idaho potatos, American dinner rolls and jellied cranberry sauce, absolute essentials for our holiday meal.  I was seriously impressed when I called Katrin a few weeks back to talk turkey and she already had a shopping list and a date with her connection to go to the store.  She replied that this was her very favorite holiday, and she was going to do everything she could to keep up the tradition.  

Wow, I thought, Maureen and I apparently did a decent job of passing on a holiday that goes totally unnoticed in Germany.  But like Katrin, Thanksgiving has always been very special to me.  When I was young, I knew it was Turkey Day the minute I got up and smelled celery and onions already sauteeing in butter and herbs for the stuffing.  To this day, the holiday starts for me with that wonderful aroma, as I still use my Mom's stuffing recipe, written in her unique handwriting.  Because I liked to bake (more specifically, eat what I baked), I took over the pie making at my parents' house when I was in my teens.  We always had the same two -- pumpkin and mincemeat -- both of which I loved until I once read the list of ingredients on the jar of mincemeat.  When Maureen and I started cooking together and each brought her own traditions to the feast, she made pecan pie, and I stuck with pumpkin.  Her pecan pie was superb, pumpkin, on the other hand, was not the top of everybody's list.   Since I could not do without it, I just enjoyed the ample leftovers on the following days.  At some point I switched to apple pie, which is my family's favorite, but when Maureen brought a mud pie into the mix a few years ago, that became the dessert of choice and our own unique tradition.


Since my husband and I are vegetarians, I am always looking for a simple yet special main dish that the two of us can enjoy with all the wonderful sides.  I have yet to find the dish that merits permanant addition to our menu, but I am getting closer to my ideal alternative to turkey.  Cooked vegetables left our table long ago, but the day would not be complete without the raw vegetables and dip that everybody chomps on as the meal is being prepared.  Christof used to say that this holiday consists of a half-day of cooking and a half-day of eating, but in reality it takes a surprisingly short amount of time to consume what has taken hours to prepare.  Not a problem though, as Maureen and I work together equally well in her kitchen and in mine.  The bottle of champagne we kill while cooking doesn't hurt either.  Every year we are slightly amazed at how well dinner turns out, as it feels more like we have been talking, laughing and drinking than cooking.


Like my sons, her two daughters have been brought up bilingually, and the conversation at the dinner table tends to bat back and forth between the two languages  (to keep up the boys' English, I am pretty strict about speaking it at the table unless German guests are present, but not on T-day).  The younger generation sits at their end of the table laughing at jokes we wouldn't understand while Maureen, Michael, Christof and I engage in our own lively conversation.  Everyone enjoys lingering after the meal, but at some point our newest tradition kicks in -- we send the man of the house and all the kids to clear the table, put away the food and do the dishes.  Now it is our turn to sit and chill while the others are working.  When the tasks are completed (which doesn't take very long with all those hands helping), it's time to break out the cards or other games.  Michael is at somewhat of a disadvantage when we play games in English, but he is a great sport and enjoys the fun like everyone else.


Today is the "real" Thanksgiving holiday in the States, but I am not at all sad that it is just another Thursday for us.  We celebrated our Turkey Feast at Spitzls last Sunday, and as always I enjoyed the day immensly.  I am keenly aware that I have very much to be thankful for, so every day should be a little day of thanks-giving, but it sure is nice to celebrate one special day with American friends.