Celebrating Thanksgiving Away From Home
One of the most beloved holidays on the American calendar - Thanksgiving. There are so many wonderful things jam packed into one day - family, football, food, naps, more food. It can also be one of the loneliest holidays if you don't have anyone around to celebrate with. Last year, I was able to have a small celebration with my closest classmates (see blog post here). This year I decided to expand the Thanksgiving festivities to the student union as well as my church family.
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| Cooking with my classmates for Stampus, the student union |
Every Thursday, the student union invites groups of students to cook and serve to the other members of the union for a nice and cheap meal out. I am a member of one of the groups that are on a cooking rotation. Luckily for us, we were able to cook on the actual Thursday of Thanksgiving. So the team whipped up turkey, cranberry sauce, sweet potato casserole, mac n cheese, and pumpkin cupcakes. It was a lot of fun to cook with my classmates so many traditional and tasty foods. I was so surprised at how many people showed up that day to enjoy a Thanksgiving feast. We almost sold out of food and everyone seemed to really like the food... It was a joyful day for all!
For me, one Thanksgiving celebration was not enough. The Saturday following Thanksgiving I had a second Thanksgiving with the church that I have become a part of while in Sweden. I am seriously so thankful to have this church in my life - they have helped me in so many ways that it is difficult to know where to begin. So celebrating Thanksgiving with them felt quite natural since they act as my family in Sweden. I asked everyone to bring one item from a list of traditional foods that I curated with my mother. I handled the turkey. We watched football and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Ate to our heart's desires and just enjoyed each other's company. Exactly how Thanksgiving should be celebrated. The best part of the whole evening was seeing everyone's reaction to my personal favorite dishes like ambrosia salad and Coca-Cola cake.
The Saturday we celebrated Thanksgiving was also my father's 60th birthday so as a fun surprise for him I had my friends sing Happy Birthday in Swedish. He really enjoyed it. He has since told me that he enjoys the Swedish version more than the English version. He even decided to have the Swedish version played before he blew out his candles and has replayed it multiple times. I think he just really likes the 'hurras' at the end of the song.
It was so awesome and comforting to share my favorite traditions with some of the most important people currently in my life. It can be so isolating to be away from home any time of the year but especially during the holiday seasons. So for my classmates and church to welcome with open arms, curiosity and empty stomachs my own traditions has no words to describe my happiness and comfort.
I am not sure where in the world I will be for Thanksgiving next year, but I know with certainty that it will be wonderful.
your little mouse
Big thanks to my classmate and cooking buddy - Andhika for the selfie I used in this blog post. Check out his youtube channel! He's a great cook and has traveled through most of Europe.
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