An American Thanksgiving (sort of…)

On Thursday I did my best to create the most American Thanksgiving I could for my British co-workers. I think it went well, although the evening was full of…excitement.

Miark was my kitchen buddy and helped me cook Stovetop Stuffing (shipped all the way from my mother back home), cranberry sauce (which I’ll have you know I made from scratch), mashed potatoes, gravy, and a great meaty main course. This was the bit where I deviated (slightly) from American norm. You see, Miark and I had discovered (on our semi-weekly Tesco excursion) that it was quite hard to find a turkey that served less than eight people (with Leigh and Miark being vegetarians, that left just Roger and I to provide for). So instead I settled on the next closest thing – turkey kiev. Roger set the table, lit candles, and even put on a full suit (we didn’t know he wore anything but jeans and hoodies)! I dressed up as well, seizing the opportunity to use some of the formal wear I had carefully brought with me for special occasions. The rest was pretty uneventful, both Leigh and Roger bought me bouquets of flowers (which is more flowers in one night than I have received in my WHOLE life) and Leigh even gave me a few Kinder Eggs. I didn’t tell them that Thanksgiving isn’t a present holiday in America…why wreck it?

When I say uneventful I mean that not much really happened, except when Roger thought that Miark and Leigh needed some garlic bread and put it in the microwave and forgot about it. We were reminded of it again when the smoke alarm went off. This was moments before Miark and Roger went dashing into the kitchen and Miark came dashing out again (with flaming garlic bread held high) and ran outside. The rest of us laughed together, or at least tried to, as the whole downstairs filled with smoke and the rest of us were forced outside in the bitterly cold night air, hacking and laughing.

After the haze cleared we resumed our meal, finishing it with cheesecake, mince pies, and the ever seasonal movie “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”

Happy Thanksgiving.