Thanksgiving

OK.     Sorry, I've been married fifteen years.  I can't help myself. 

LOL! No worries - I think if I'd read my original post I'd have thought the same thing - what a jerk!! It's all about context sometimes! Though I will say that this Thanksgiving he'll be given the same menu with no apologies! 

Neither did I until I dragged poor Wishstar out there...

Yeah, but I got some really cool masa harina and made yummy homemade corn tortillas so it wasn't all for naught! 

To be honest, I think it was me dragging *you* to that end of town if memory serves. The Big Easy was a really delicious lunch and it's just down the road from there.

As for Thanksgiving, we tried to do it here my first year living here.  Had my inlaws down from Scotland and everything.  It was ummm....interesting.  You can read about it here if you're interested:

http://www15.brinkster.com/wishstar/FirstYear/thanksgiving.htm

We've gone home the last two years but have decided to be here this year.  I went and picked up my pumpkin pie mix from the Canada Shop in Covent Garden just today, in fact.  I've learned not to leave these things to the last minute!   

Hi Wishstar,

I really enjoyed your story of your first Thanksgiving here!   

My first Thanksgivings was similar, (i.e. looking for the products and wanting everything just perfect) although I invited friends and not my husband's relatives.  Everybody was very kind and supportive, but the essense of it wasn't the same.  It was a bit of a shock.

I suppose that's why I varied and improvised what I did from year to year.  I love the autumn and my spirit wasn't going to be broken.  I decided that since it was unlikely to get people around on a Thursday evening, I'd just do it on the weekend.  It didn't really matter.  Over the years as I've gotten to know people better, our friends seemed to have gained an insight into Thanksgiving and why it means so much to us Yanks.  I think it's actually grown on them!  Or, maybe they were just in it for the food! 

Kellie

- it's lovely honey, but don't make it again, alright? .

If i cook something new, i always ask my DH if he likes it... he will ALWAYS say yes, but then if i ask him 'shall i make it again sometime'... i sometimes get a 'no'! 

I have been in the UK 18 years, and have never done a Thanksgiving dinner.  Might do one this year, though, just for a laugh.

I did Thanksgiving dinner the first year here for my in-laws - turkey, Stove Top & Paxo stuffings, green bean casserole, mixed veggies, "real" mash, pumpkin pie.  My father-in-law had 3 helpings of the green bean casserole!    My Stop Top loving teenage son, however, has seriously developed a liking for Paxo stuffing and so we had to take some with us to the US last year when we visited my mother for Thanksgiving in Florida. 

Not sure about this year.  We might go visit my mother, might put that off and do a dinner here again.  My in-laws quite liked it, and it keeps me from feeling guilty that my mother-in-law does the Christmas dinner.

Wishstar...thanks for your Thanksgiving story! I am planning on cooking one this year (I added pumpkin pie mix to my list of foodies to bring with me this time!) and have already ferreted over pie plates on an earlier visit. This is going to be a hard one for me too...since the older kids will be here in the US and the twins, at age four, really have no memories of last Thanksgiving. I am going to pretend that the older kids have gone to visit with their dad for Thanksgiving (which they have done before) and sort of look at it as a day to celebrate how thankful I am to be with my honey on a "major" holiday! The thing is, the few times my older kids celebrated with their dad, I was still with my family...my mom's side of the family...and she is the oldest of 7 kids, all with kids, and we all have kids, and we celebrate at a rented ski lodge so there are about 60 people there! It is NOT a traditional sitdown dinner...we all contribute different parts of the meal and it is laid out buffet-style. We eat off of paper plates! There are no china, silver flatware and crystal to be found! So, since I have celebrated in many ways, (even ate out at a restaurant one year when we were on vacation) I am hoping that this one will be remembered fondly as the first one with my DF. (Of course, at some point he really needs to be initiated into the joyfully loud, thanksgiving feast experience with my mom's side. Wonder if he'll join the men hunting that morning?! Hehehe...)