Friday. Black; or, Reflections on a first Thanksgiving away from home

When I live in the US, I usually don’t leave my house on Black Friday. I hole in. And I don’t dare step foot anywhere near a shopping center. I’m a thrill-seeker, but that doesn’t mean I’m insane enough to go out and brave the notorious day-after-Thanksgiving sales.

Instead my family has this tradition of starting Christmas shopping on Thanksgiving itself. We go to Colombus Mart, a flea-market in New Jersey, closer to Donna and Rach than to me. It’s one of my favorite parts of the holiday. I think yesterday I missed the shopping trip even more than I missed the big dinner.

Not to say I didn’t miss the dinner. When my mom called me from my grandparents’ house, I could hear the Thanksgiving bustle in the background. My pop-pop taking out the turkey, my aunt asking where is the cranberry sauce, my cousin laughing, my nephew continuously playing the “Jingle Bells” singing-Christmas toys. And of course, my neice babbling on in the background. She may not know many words in English yet, at almost two years old, but she does love to speak. And so I missed them all.

But my Thanksgiving here was not as lonely as I thought it was going to be. Tom and Cecil came over, with the most American foods they could find at Aldi’s. Together we cooked and enjoyed quite the mélange of foods. All while listening to the most slammin rap mix ever. When's the last time you listened to music of your choice on Thanksgiving??

We had corn, of course, potatoes au gratin with ham, mashed potatoes (which came out a little less-than-grandma-quality), turkey cordon-bleu for the main course, and Mexican hot wings. The turkey was delicious, but the hot wings kind of tasted like they’d been rolled in Ortega taco seasoning. Not so great. Anwyay, we had good wine and even better conversation, and I’m so thankful they came.

(look Joanne - the veg takes up most of the plate!)

Another reason that my Thanksgiving didn’t feel so lonely was my students. I’ve grown to really like them. My family has this tradition (or used to have this tradition) where before we eat every person must think of one thing he or she is grateful for this year (I think the best ever was when my brother announced Amanda was pregnant with Seanie – you should have seen the look on my Aunt’s face. Priceless). Well, I worked this into all of my Thanksgiving lessons with the kids. I very theatrically say, “I’m very sad.” And when they ask me why I tell them how much I miss home and my family. And then I ask them if, just for this Thanksgiving, maybe they can be my family. And they are mostly delighted at the idea. Then I have all the students come up with something they are thankful for. Usually, it’s “my parents” or “my dog” or “the internet.” But every once in a while, one student or another will say, “I’m thankful for you. Ashley.” It’s enough to melt my heart.

This weekend: Caen. Get ready for another installment of Best Week(end) Ever.