Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is an originally religious celebration, which marks the beginning of the holiday season.  It is only celebrated in the US and in Canada, but in different occasions: the fourth Thursday of November and the second Monday of October, respectively.

On Thanksgiving Day, families and friends gather for a large dinner.  They usually meet early in the afternoon to cook and organize the meal together.  That dinner, one of the most expected of the year,  consists of lots of food and traditionally starts with the host or hostess saying grace.

A Thanksgiving dinner would not be a Thanksgiving dinner if it didn't include baked or roasted turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, sweet corn, some kind of vegetables and lots of desserts, namely pumpkin pie.

Another important part of Thanksgiving festivities is watching American football games.  From what I heard, teams like the Dallas Cowboys and the New England Patriots always play on this day.

My Thanksgiving experience this year matched exactly this general description.  Pedro and I went to the Cantlays' house, where he has spent this day in the past three years.  We got there at 3 pm.  I spent all afternoon cooking with the ladies, while him and Patrick watched football on television.  By 6 or 7 pm, we had prepared some appetizers, turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes with marshmallows (!!!), green beans with mushrooms, two different kinds of stuffing, and corn rolls, as well as two pumpkin pies, two apple pies, a raspberry pie, a custard tart, a chocolate cake, ginger bread, cookies and a cranberry crumble.  All of this for around 20 people, kids included.

In the meanwhile, when the Cantlays saw my camera, they thought I was some kind of photographer and thus made me take charge of the photo shooting for this year's Christmas cards.  I loved it.  It was another very American experience in that very American day.  Here is the result:

Because most people go home for this celebration, most companies and schools close on Friday, the famous Black Friday.  It's often the busiest shopping day of the season, with crazy sales starting very early in the morning.  I did some shopping in LA on Friday.  Could that count as another check in my American to-do list?  I guess so...

This little four-day break could not have been better.  I went to LA, got to spend some relaxing time with Pedro, caught up my studies, had this amazing American experience, played some tennis, went to an American Football game, ate nice food, did some shopping, and rested a lot.  I am now ready for my last week of classes and three more weeks of lots of studying before going home.

In this Thanksgiving season, I have two things to say.  Firstly, that I am very thankful for having the best family and friends in the world and for having the chance to spend this year in Berkeley.  Secondly, that, in my opinion, we should think about what we are thankful everyday and not only in this time of the year.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!