Thankful

I had no special plans to celebrate Thanksgiving this year. It is my favorite American holiday but what makes it special to me is sharing the tradition with friends and family. With mixed feelings I had decided to stay here this year as I had just seen my parents a few weeks ago and M.'s birthday is next week. Compounded with the fact that I will also stay here for Christmas for the short break we are getting this year, I was definitely having some bouts of classic ex-pat homesickness.

The more I thought about it the more I thought I should go for the next best thing - An American Thanksgiving in Germany. This raised all kinds of questions, among them, where to get a turkey, cranberries and canned pumpkin, how would we fit the turkey in our little European oven, who would eat all the food and would I feel better or worse for having this dinner?

We invited 10 of our closest friends in Munich for a Thanksgiving dinner today and they all showed up, ready to see what the fuss was all about. We spent yesterday shopping for all the ingredients. There were some compromises but for the most part I got what we needed. Our local butcher had arranged a turkey at M.'s request and the Saturday morning crowd was giggling as they handed us the 16 pound bird, legs and wings bouncing around, unsecured, in a big plastic bag. Just in case we didn't know, he told us that most people were ordering their birds for Wednesday.

We gave up on pumpkin pie and a couple of appetizers. I felt particulary sad about the pie - this is always my favorite part of the meal and my family would never have the meal without it. We settled on an apple pie and with a sigh, I moved on. We visited the wine shop where the owner refuses to let anyone out until they have tried a little of everything. We need to start arranging a designated driver when we go there. He really nails the perfect wine for any occasion though and now when we come in he says, Aha - the American girl! We got some nice Spanish wine and a few bottles of sparkling wine and teetered on out of there.

Early this morning we set about making the house and food ready for a 2 PM start time. I was surprised when M. decided to just stay out of the kitchen. Normally it kills him to not commandeer one dish or another, or just flat out take over. I think he knew I just needed to do this my way today, without compromise. By the time he got back from a morning run, most of the dishes were prepared and the turkey was in the oven.

The smells coming from the kitchen, apple pie, cinnamon, sage, turkey and stuffing, kept pulling me back to the past. If I closed my eyes I could envision myself through the years, sometimes in my mother's kitchen, sometimes one of my grandmother's, but always surrounded by warmth and laughter, feeling safe and snug and loved. The dim, late-fall days in the Northeast were the perfect backdrop for this cozy holiday. We were all younger then but that is how I picture my family still.

I blinked and it was a few hours later. M. and our friends were laughing and chatting in the living room, flipping back and forth from German to English. The food was plentiful and the wine flowed freely. Our house felt full and for sure our bellies were.

All in all, I'm glad I went to the trouble. Our German-American Thanksgiving dinner filled a hole, one of my ex-pat holes.

Posted From Munich