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Well, I'm certainly not hosting one; hell if I'd even know how to cook a turkey in a spacious American kitchen, let alone my tiny-ass galley with less than a square foot of counter space and nothing but a grill and a microwave with a "stove" setting. (And that doesn't even factor in the mashed potatoes and pies).
As for going someplace else, I've already blown about half of my savings on tickets to come home for Christmas, so I'll wait until then to see my family, my boyfriend, and a few of my friends. I feel like someone would be throwing one here, but I've heard nothing (yet). Or I'm just not invited. (I feel like the most likely scenario, considering how small our apartments are and how hard it is to get-- let alone cook-- a turkey here, is that a few small groups are having small Thanksgivings together and I'm not particularly intimate enough with any of them to be included. Which is fair).
The prospect of not doing anything for Thanksgiving bothers me less than it did last year, however. Last year, being in the US, I would have been conspicuously alone working in my dorm room while everyone around me vacated the place to go home to family and home-cooked dinners. (Thanks so much to Brandy and her family, and Oren and Mimi, for saving my Thanksgiving!). However, here I could probably just sleep (or, erm, work) right through Thanksgiving. Even if there are pockets of American and Canadian expats having small makeshift Thanksgiving dinners without me (which would have to be on the weekend afterward, anyway), it's not like I'll be obviously missing out because there will be just as many British, Kiwi, South African, and Korean expats and millions of Japanese nationals not even noticing there's a holiday. Plus, I've got three extra Thanksgivings saved up in my system from having thrown them for our French exchange students the past three Julys. Considering Thanksgiving isn't even that big of a holiday anyway, I think I can go without for the time I'm here. It'll just seem that much more nostalgic when I get back.
I'm pretty traditional about Thanksgiving. Then again, I'm pretty traditional about all holidays. The point of most holidays, in my opinion, is to do the same thing you do every year so you can always harken back to a childhood of discovering it for the first time. (I'm particularly anal about Christmas, but that will have to be another post).
When it comes to Thanksgiving food, for me it's all about the turkey (dark meat and gravy ftw), mashed potatoes (heaped with butter but no gravy), and pumpkin pie (1 part pie to 1 part whipped creme :-P). I don't like stuffing, cranberries (in berry or gel form), or green bean casserole. It's all a matter of texture: mushy bread, mushy fruit, and mushy vegetables. I don't do mushy! Luckily my mom agrees about the green beans and has always replaced the casserole with frozen peas. However, I've stopped even taking a token "bite" of stuffing and cranberries and left them to the people that enjoy them, because some people really, really do. That's one thing you can depend on with me being so traditional about holidays; I'm never going to take away anyone else's favorite tradition just because I think it's unnecessary.
That said, I will add to traditions. I'd have no problem including a tofurkey or other vegetarian entree for a vegetarian friend or family member, and as long as you leave the staples alone, adding more side dishes and desserts can only improve things. My grandmother has thrown in things like scalloped potatoes, noodle casserole, salad, three-bean salad, baked beans, pecan pie, and ice cream to add some variety, and Brandy's family had a lot of dishes that were unfamiliar to me as Thanksgiving foods which when coupled with the old standbys made for a yummy and novel Thanksgiving dinner.
That said, when I add something new there must be the understanding that if it goes well, it will become a new tradition to be celebrated year after year henceforth. (So it better not take too much effort!). The first year we had Thanksgiving with our friends the Coreys, Mrs. Corey brought a really good minestrone soup-- and since then Tory and I have been trying to include the soup in our Thanksgiving dinners whether the Coreys have been present or not. Actually, having the Coreys over at all started to feel like a Thanksgiving tradition for a while; for years, my extended family was sporadic at best when it came to having Thanksgiving dinners all together, so rather than have yet another This Is Just Like A Normal Sunday Dinner Thanksgiving with my immediate family we joined forces with some family friends. (And then it was kind of sad when my relatives started throwing big family Thanksgivings again, because we left the Coreys all alone!).
There are a few national Thanksgiving traditions that I've never personally celebrated, so I don't consider them necessary to my ideal Thanksgiving. I only sometimes watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, I never watch football, and the day after Thanksgiving is the last day of the year I would willingly set foot in a mall. If I mesh with friends or family for whom these are traditions, I'd be willing to include them, however. It's not like I have something alternative that conflicts. Basically all I do on Thanksgiving is eat. As long as I can still do that, we're pretty much in the clear to try whatever else it is you want to do ^_^
But I just have to say . . . Boo for questions aimed at a narrow audience! LJ does not serve only Americans and Canadians. First "Did you like New Moon?" and now this? Sigh. You know, I actually submitted a couple questions (anonymously; I hear they tamper with them and then credit you anyway, and people come harass you on your journal about how stupid they are O.o) which were abstract and universal, so I know it's not because they don't have anything to work with.
Well, I'm certainly not hosting one; hell if I'd even know how to cook a turkey in a spacious American kitchen, let alone my tiny-ass galley with less than a square foot of counter space and nothing but a grill and a microwave with a "stove" setting. (And that doesn't even factor in the mashed potatoes and pies).
As for going someplace else, I've already blown about half of my savings on tickets to come home for Christmas, so I'll wait until then to see my family, my boyfriend, and a few of my friends. I feel like someone would be throwing one here, but I've heard nothing (yet). Or I'm just not invited. (I feel like the most likely scenario, considering how small our apartments are and how hard it is to get-- let alone cook-- a turkey here, is that a few small groups are having small Thanksgivings together and I'm not particularly intimate enough with any of them to be included. Which is fair).
The prospect of not doing anything for Thanksgiving bothers me less than it did last year, however. Last year, being in the US, I would have been conspicuously alone working in my dorm room while everyone around me vacated the place to go home to family and home-cooked dinners. (Thanks so much to Brandy and her family, and Oren and Mimi, for saving my Thanksgiving!). However, here I could probably just sleep (or, erm, work) right through Thanksgiving. Even if there are pockets of American and Canadian expats having small makeshift Thanksgiving dinners without me (which would have to be on the weekend afterward, anyway), it's not like I'll be obviously missing out because there will be just as many British, Kiwi, South African, and Korean expats and millions of Japanese nationals not even noticing there's a holiday. Plus, I've got three extra Thanksgivings saved up in my system from having thrown them for our French exchange students the past three Julys. Considering Thanksgiving isn't even that big of a holiday anyway, I think I can go without for the time I'm here. It'll just seem that much more nostalgic when I get back.
I'm pretty traditional about Thanksgiving. Then again, I'm pretty traditional about all holidays. The point of most holidays, in my opinion, is to do the same thing you do every year so you can always harken back to a childhood of discovering it for the first time. (I'm particularly anal about Christmas, but that will have to be another post).
When it comes to Thanksgiving food, for me it's all about the turkey (dark meat and gravy ftw), mashed potatoes (heaped with butter but no gravy), and pumpkin pie (1 part pie to 1 part whipped creme :-P). I don't like stuffing, cranberries (in berry or gel form), or green bean casserole. It's all a matter of texture: mushy bread, mushy fruit, and mushy vegetables. I don't do mushy! Luckily my mom agrees about the green beans and has always replaced the casserole with frozen peas. However, I've stopped even taking a token "bite" of stuffing and cranberries and left them to the people that enjoy them, because some people really, really do. That's one thing you can depend on with me being so traditional about holidays; I'm never going to take away anyone else's favorite tradition just because I think it's unnecessary.
That said, I will add to traditions. I'd have no problem including a tofurkey or other vegetarian entree for a vegetarian friend or family member, and as long as you leave the staples alone, adding more side dishes and desserts can only improve things. My grandmother has thrown in things like scalloped potatoes, noodle casserole, salad, three-bean salad, baked beans, pecan pie, and ice cream to add some variety, and Brandy's family had a lot of dishes that were unfamiliar to me as Thanksgiving foods which when coupled with the old standbys made for a yummy and novel Thanksgiving dinner.
That said, when I add something new there must be the understanding that if it goes well, it will become a new tradition to be celebrated year after year henceforth. (So it better not take too much effort!). The first year we had Thanksgiving with our friends the Coreys, Mrs. Corey brought a really good minestrone soup-- and since then Tory and I have been trying to include the soup in our Thanksgiving dinners whether the Coreys have been present or not. Actually, having the Coreys over at all started to feel like a Thanksgiving tradition for a while; for years, my extended family was sporadic at best when it came to having Thanksgiving dinners all together, so rather than have yet another This Is Just Like A Normal Sunday Dinner Thanksgiving with my immediate family we joined forces with some family friends. (And then it was kind of sad when my relatives started throwing big family Thanksgivings again, because we left the Coreys all alone!).
There are a few national Thanksgiving traditions that I've never personally celebrated, so I don't consider them necessary to my ideal Thanksgiving. I only sometimes watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, I never watch football, and the day after Thanksgiving is the last day of the year I would willingly set foot in a mall. If I mesh with friends or family for whom these are traditions, I'd be willing to include them, however. It's not like I have something alternative that conflicts. Basically all I do on Thanksgiving is eat. As long as I can still do that, we're pretty much in the clear to try whatever else it is you want to do ^_^
But I just have to say . . . Boo for questions aimed at a narrow audience! LJ does not serve only Americans and Canadians. First "Did you like New Moon?" and now this? Sigh. You know, I actually submitted a couple questions (anonymously; I hear they tamper with them and then credit you anyway, and people come harass you on your journal about how stupid they are O.o) which were abstract and universal, so I know it's not because they don't have anything to work with.
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no subject
Date: 2009-11-25 04:56 pm (UTC)Not into green beans. Stuffing depends. Love pumpkin pie WITHOUT the meringue or whipped cream.
I dislike football as well, hehehe.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-25 10:21 pm (UTC)I've never had meringue in pumpkin pie I don't think. That sounds . . . interesting.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-27 07:16 pm (UTC)And I think our Thanksgiving dinner just keeps growing year after year; whenever we experiment with a dish and everyone likes it, it's on demand every year following.
Also, how do you like mashed potatoes if you don't like mushy foods? They're like the ultimate in mushy! lol.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-28 08:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-28 07:43 pm (UTC)