Thanksgiving is my holiday. I like to cook and I like to eat. So it is a little tragic that this is the second year in a row where we do not celebrate Thanksgiving. For the last 12 or 15 years, we hosted Thanksgiving. It was always SWMBO's family and usually some members of mine converging on our house for a few days of caloric excess. Typically it would commence with French Onion soup which is my brother in law's favorite for lunch after he would arrive. Dinner the night before would always be a Bronto-slab of standing rib roast (bone in) and potato dauphinois. Thanksgiving was the traditional turkey with sides and a toxic amount of dessert.
I am glad that while my daughter was growing up, she had a traditional family holiday like this and I feel bad that the last couple of years have interrupted it. We talked a little about trying to do the holiday at her place in Arizona, but it didnt make sense this year. I know we will reinstate the annual tradition when we return to the US but I cant help but feel like we have missed a precious opportunity these last two.
Missing traditions is one of the unanticipated consequences of living abroad. It is not like we couldnt have stayed in the US a few extra days and had a Thanksgiving, but it would not have been the same. For me, Thanksgiving is about cooking for the people I care about and spending time with them. It would be hard to watch someone else roasting the bird and not want to jump in. So here I sit, having just had SWMBO's shepherd's pie and watching the Lions and Packers on ESPN America. Not quite the same thing, but it will have to do. Maybe next year we can find a creative solution.
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