Your Most Unusual Thanksgiving
New Mexico Turkey
Here’s a tip. Thursday–that’s tomorrow by the way–is Thanksgiving. No, no. Needn’t thank me for the reminder. It’s just the kinda guy I am. Love to share and help my fellow man…and woman. It’s your reward for dropping faithfully by Imagineering Fiction. You get tips and tricks here you just won’t find elsewhere.
Anyway, I was trying to recall my most unusual Thanksgiving. Now, this is harder than it seems. You’re looking at a guy that can’t remember where he put his glasses. Which, by the way, I broke—don’t ask how–and am wearing with one stem. Don’t ask where the other one is. Talk about looking like a dweeb or the school nerd. Sheesh.
But, back on point. I’ve spent Thanksgiving in at least the following places…no particular order.
- Vietnam—Had C-rations from a can. Hmmmm, good.
- Korea—No idea what I did or ate, just barely know I was there.
- Driving between Washington State and New Mexico—Ate at McDonalds.
- Ohio–Nearly as bad as Vietnam.
- At my Grandmother’s in Indiana—Now this was actually pretty nice. Family, football, all good.
- Germany–Stuttgart will never be the same.
- Washington State—No comment.
- Fishing the Yakima River—Cold, cold, cold. Rod tip iced-up. Toes turned white. Ate a Snickers bar.
- Alabama—Similar to Korea, can’t recall the details but based on calendar evidence, it happened.
But my all-time most unusual Thanksgiving was the one I spent in Moscow. In the other places, even Vietnam and Korea, I was around Americans who understood the holiday. I was a lonely tourist in Moscow. They had no idea about Thanksgiving. The hotel served:
- Boiled potatoes,
- A few green, semi-leafy things that was supposed to be a salad,
- What I hope was meat–albeit stringy, greasy, and tough,
- Vodka—of course, and,
- A sweet, gooey, gelatinous goop that I’m hoping was desert and which shot my glycemic index to the moon.
I’m curious about you. Have you had a bizarre Thanksgiving, or spent it in an odd place or unusual way? If so, please share.
Since I’m a Monday, Wednesday, Friday poster, allow me to wish you the happiest of Thanksgivings today, because–as you learned here–tommorow is…Thanksgiving.
Themocracy
Okay, I’m feeling REALLY boring now. I’ve had Thanksgivings in Macon, Georgia, does that count?
Happy Thanksgiving, Galen!
Elizabeth
Mystery Writing is Murder
Let’s see . . . many semi-boring ones when I was a kid. My family talked about relatives and friends I didn’t know. And I had to dress up and behave. Both!
And one year I chased two wild turkeys through the woods. The turkeys won.
Okay, I have a really bad Thanksgiving to relate to you. I had been dating a girl long distance (I was stationed in Monterey, Ca and she was in Casper, WY). I chose NOT to go to my parents’ house for Thanksgiving and instead flew all the way to Casper to spend time with this girl. Cost me a small fortune in air fare and for the last leg of the trip, I had to fly in this tiny puddle jumper, sure that I was going to end up like Ritchie Valens. Anyway, after spending the night at her folks place (yeah, she still was living at home…go figure), she dumped me (right before she dropped me back off at the airport). No fond memories of turkey, mashed potatoes, and all that. Nope, all I have to remember that year is the memory of being dumped. She didn’t even really have a good reason other than she just didn’t want to date me anymore. Of course, I’m counting my blessings now. Imagine if I had stayed with someone like that. I’d probably be in a hellish nightmare of a marriage instead of the wedded bliss I currently enjoy. Have a nice Turkey day, Galen!
One year we were at my uncles and he had a self-cleaning oven. My dad had not seen before and asked as moved the lever to lock the oven, “What’s this?” Because the oven was already hot from the turkey that roasted in there, it went into self-cleaning mode and would not unlock until it cooled down. We all imagined our precious turkey turning into ash, and after the initial panic was over, we waited and the oven eventually unlocked, releasing the turkey (which was still great).
It’s now official; I’ve led the most boring life on the planet.
Elspeth
I did have an unusual Thanksgiving in 1986 — hubby and I were living in the South of France (he was on assignment with his high tech company), and the local French-American Chamber of Commerce decided to prepare a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for its members. Well, the chefs (and wonderful chefs they were) chose to add their own touches to the American assignee wives’ instructions. I’m sure their goal was to improve on the odd dishes we Americans preferred, so we were served something that looked like a pate instead of stuffing, and the pumpkin pie was a peculiar pumpkin tart thingie. No gravy, of course, and the potatoes were piped onto the plate in a fancy swirl and browned on top. It was pretty good, of course, but definitely not traditional American fare.
Wow You’ve been around! Almost all my Turkey Days have been on the continental US. I DID have one very memorable Thanksgiving in Mexico City when I was in my early 30’s. They served tequila with dinner, of course.
Happy Thanksgiving, Galen!
The Old Silly
We’ve spent Thanksgiving in various countries around the world but I’ve always tried to make them as traditional as possible, which has included buying U.S. products at ridiculous prices and getting creative with substituations when that wasn’t possible. We had friends who would send us videos (yes, it’s been that long ago)of football games so that we even had the ‘proper’ background noise!
Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving.
I’m British and we don’t ‘do’ Thanksgiving. I did live in China for three years though and Christmas was celebrated by teaching English and eating rice!
Living in the melting pot that is Southern California, I’ve learned there will be times when its better NOT to ask what it is you’re eating. Seriosuly, I’ve met people who will eat anything. Nasty, nasty, nasty stuff (shudder).
Stephen Tremp
My weirdest Thanksgiving was spent in Mexico City with The Husband. We ate on the roof top restaurant over The Zocolo, watching a huge revolutionary rally, while eating tortilla soup and drinkig tequila. Some snooty elderly British couple sat at the next table and complained about the noise.
Hope you had a good holiday.
Hi Galen,
I was in the neighborhood so I thought I would stop by and say, Hi!
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday so I don’t have any strange stories to tell. For me, it’s been food, football, fun and family every year! (I’m so blessed)
It’s weird how “Black” Friday used to be the start of the Xmas selling season but now they start getting geared up in September. It’s like they don’t even want you to savoy the Thanksgiving excitement – just skip right over it and start buying “stuff” for people.
Well not me. My daughter is 26 so I stopped buying Xmas gifts for people long ago. I’m not a Scrooge though. I just think it’s dumb to wait to give someone you love a gift on a designated holiday (notice how I keep referring to it as “X”mas). The only exception is if you have little kids…but I digress.
Anway, thanks for keeping me in the blog roll! I enjoyed the visit as always.