Friday, November 26, 2010

Thanksgiving

This has been our fourth Thanksgiving in America. We’ve joined in a little more each year, and I’ve come to like the holiday. But it’s not my own, nor will it ever be. It’s a good example of how knowledge, and the way it intertwines with experience, is so much more complicated than we give it credit for.

My children know the history that the Thanksgiving tradition stems from, because our first Thanksgiving here, I bought them each a book, and read to them about it. But there it is, right there. It’s so different for them. Their American friends won’t have the stories read to them out of books. They’ll be told them by their American moms, digging around in the memories of their own American childhoods, and wrapping the tales with the warmth and significance that comes from the feeling of passing something on to the next generation. "This is our narrative. This is who we are." That’s what the stories say.

My family can enjoy a turkey dinner, but we don’t have the traditions. We don’t have decorations and special dishes, brought out and dusted off year after year. We don’t serve up unpalatable green bean casserole which nobody likes, but which has to be eaten because it is made from the recipe written in the book in Great-Grandma’s spidery hand-writing. We can’t reminisce about the time our parents made us dress up as pilgrims, or reflect on how the holiday has become so much more commercial than it used to be.

We can understand Thanksgiving from the books, and from watching how others go about the celebration. But that understanding is head knowledge, not knowledge in the marrow of our bones. It’s the wrong kind of knowledge for a holiday celebration.

At first I resented Thanksgiving. My birthday is 24th November, and 9-yo’s is the 28th. The last thing I needed was a whopping great public holiday plonked on top of the last week of November. I’ve always tried to be protective of 9-yo’s birthday, because as a child, I hated having a birthday close to Christmas (though come on, people, it’s a full month before... The logic must be that 1 in 12 of the population is in a similar or worse predicament, not to mention the January birthday folk.) So I saw Thanksgiving as an unwelcome interloper. Not only Christmas to contend with in birthday rivalry, but now Thanksgiving too.

With the passage of time, though, I have come to enjoy Thanksgiving. I can’t embrace it in all its glory, with pilgrims and natives helping each other through the year by planting corn, shooting turkeys and waving two fingers at England, but I do like the whole thankfulness theme. I’ve learned about one or two family traditions which I’m going to adopt, to encourage the children to reflect on what they have in their lives to be thankful for. I think that’s a good thing to add to our yearly calendar. I suppose it’s the role that Harvest Festival plays in Britain.

As for me, well, I’m jolly thankful for the opportunity to be spending this Thanksgiving in the mountains of Colorado, for the second year running. You can’t beat mountains. I could list a whole heap of things I'm thankful for, but that would be bordering on the cheesy, and I'm feeling the need for a restoration of ironic equilibrium after my last post. So I won't do that. Instead I'll focus on what I’m not thankful for, and what I'm not thankful for is that the laptop crashed as I was writing this post first time round, and the whole thing disappeared. It hasn’t come out nearly as well second time round. Wah.

16 comments:

  1. I know what you mean - you can try to do all the Thanksgiving things as much as possible (and we cooked a whole turkey meal yesterday for some friends) but if you're not American, it really still lacks meaning. And it seems a little odd to be having what feels like Christmas day minus the presents and tree, in the middle of November, when Christmas itself is only a month away.

    Still lucky you to be having it in Colorado - it must be so beautiful. And happy belated birthday!

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  2. Happy belated birthday and happy belated thanksgiving! Colorado sounds fabulous. Do take a photo or two! Wishing your laptop a speedy recovery!

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  3. Here in Albania, as an antidote to all the Americans celebrating Thanksgiving & because it's a school holiday us Brits introduced a rival get together day & we invite other Europeans too. we call it "Mustn't Grumble Day"....

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  4. I just love Pariase's comment so...well European! But there is a lot to be thankful for even if the lap top did crash! As far as I am concerned it reads just great!

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  5. A "whole heap of things"? Goodness. What would Miss Haddow say? Time to come home, that's what I say.

    Btw, did you hear that Bernard Matthews died on Turkey Day (thanksgiving)?

    Extraordinary.

    Europe still needs you back.
    xxxxx

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  6. I am voicing similar thoughts on my Expat Focus column. I think if both parents aren't American, it can seem a little removed, but my thing is that, as the English one in the family, I have shortchanged my kids. I never get worked up about Thanksgiving. Indeed, I usually don't do much. My husband though, has managed to create our own small family traditions, which I hope the kids will remember. And I hope they'll forgive their foreign mother who never quite got into it.

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  7. The post is great, lap top crash or not!
    I think because so many of my friends here in CA are first generation Americans from Asia or Europe, we all kind of get into the spirit of it anyway.

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  8. what a wonderful insight in to your lives, thank you for sharing Iota

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  9. Well, the laptop might have crashed, but I think this is a damn good post.
    Your birthday is the same as mine! i never felt that clash between it and Christmas, cos my one sister is in a worse place..hers is Christmas Day!
    Would love if you could share the traditions you're thinking of adopting; I've been wanting to celebrate Thanksgiving for years, but the food thing wouldn't work here (one vegan, one vegetarian, one who hates turkey, two others!), so other traditions would be most welcome.
    Enjoy Colorado!

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  10. yes i agree with The Mad House's comment - the insight into your life in america is fascinating. BUT even tho you don't have the thanksgiving traditions in your bones, you WILL have the christmas traditions there, and not long to go now, so that is something to embrace and be excited about! (did that make sense? i have been making christmas pudding today which meant soaking dried fruit in rum, and guess what happened to the remaining bottle of rum) x

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  11. Firstly, I enjoy reading your blog

    Just a small correction....No Granny passed down the recipe for that vile green bean casserole. It was invented by Campbell's soup co and Durkee brand in the 1950s (I remember them promoting it). Many American's do serve this during the holidays (many don't). I can't imagine why this recipe ever because so popular - perhaps b/c it's easy to throw together. It can't be because it tastes good...ugh.

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  13. I love green bean casserole, but then again I am from MN and we do love our hot dishes. I tried to make here in London, but couldn't find those nice french cut green beans or the french fried onions that go on top. I did buy a can of the onions and Campbells mushroom soup in MN and brought it back to London so I could make it for my husband.

    Thanksgiving is one of my favourite American holidays, but I've never felt the desire to recreate it here in London. It's more than just the food, it's the whole experience and I am happy to wait until we're in the States for my husband to experience it :)

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  14. oh, i'd say the post came out quite well! though i know that feeling of not wanting to re-create.

    i've never been a big thanksgiving fan, myself--it seems a time to absolutely gorge. and that whole thankfulness-for-the-indians thing seems rather hypocritcal, considering how we behaved from the minute that first dinner was over until, oh, right about now.

    but i do like the fact that it's a holiday that anyone can partake in, regardless of religion or country of origin. simply giving thanks requires no particular affiliation.

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  15. A good turkey is more than enough reason to enjoy the holiday=)

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