Thanksgiving in London

Many of you know that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. It's probably a combination of being in the Fall and so close to my birthday, being a time to eat as much delicious comfort food as you want, and being an excuse to spend time with family and friends, but it is mostly because it is a day to remember how much we have to be thankful for and to share that with others without all the commercial excess that comes in to play with some other (not to be mentioned) holidays.

I love hosting Thanksgiving dinner, a tradition that we started many moons ago. I love cooking all day and setting the table in anticipation of our guests. I love having the Macy's Parade on the telly in the background, while Steven prepares the bird and I frantically vacuum the house. I love how the cooking smells fill the air and the phone keeps ringing with well wishes from family on the other Coast. I love sitting down to eat with people that I love, and hearing what each one is most thankful for this year. I guess I am a bit of a nut about Thanksgiving; did I mention that it's my favorite holiday?

Being in England for Thanksgiving this year was certainly different. No one celebrates it here, not just minimally like Halloween, I mean not at all. It isn't a holiday in the UK and some folks have no idea what it even symbolizes. That didn't faze us, though, we still hosted Thanksgiving dinner, and it was really nice. We splashed out and ordered almost all of the food from Abel & Cole, including the organic cranberry preserves. We bought a whole pumpkin and Steven baked pumpkin pie from scratch, while I stuck to the easy apple pie making. We cooked all day, cleaned the house, had calls from family and friends, all with "This American Life's" podcast playing in the background. Then Uncle Alan and Aunt Isabel came over for dinner and we introduced them to Thanksgiving. It was really special that we were able to celebrate it with family, and that was one of the recurring themes when we all noted what we're feeling most thankful for. The other biggies were being thankful that we could take this adventure and that it is all going so well, thankful for our health and for our happiness, thankful for each other. It really doesn't get much better than that. Oh, and the upside to the Brits not celebrating Thanksgiving is that they also don't celebrate "Black Friday." Something else to be thankful for!