Not quite Thanksgiving

Human Highlighter Suit Tally: 9

I woke up this morning and thought about all of the turkeys sitting in all of the refrigerators back home in the US.  By now they are probably getting stuffed and put into ovens.  I miss the smell of morning sticky buns, butter, sage, and cooking meat.  Normally Alec and I cook for a large and fluid group of friends and family in Asbury Park on this day.  I love Thanksgiving.  In fact, it’s my favorite holiday.  No gifts to buy, no religion that includes some and excludes others.  Just gratitude and good food.  What could be better?

As the holiday approached us here in Barcelona, we weren’t sure what to do.  The kids have school, and our offices were open.  I didn’t feel up to hosting a large dinner.  Somehow the things that seem easy back home—throwing a child’s birthday party, cooking Thanksgiving dinner—still feel a little overwhelming here.  Alec and I talked about it and asked the kids what they thought.  They still have fuzzy concepts of time, and didn’t seem to feel strongly one way or the other.  “Maybe we should just skip it,” I said.  “Or maybe someone will invite us.” But then, as the holiday approached, I began to feel more and more that I wanted to celebrate it, even in a scaled down way.  I told Alec, and he felt fine with it.  We asked our chicken lady, Mari, if she could get us a turkey.  She can.  We thought about whether to invite anyone, and decided to invite the other two families at the university who are here for a year—one American family, and one British.  Turns out they can’t come.

But no matter.  We’ll be cooking our bird on Sunday, along with a local wild mushroom stuffing, green beans with walnuts and dried cherries, and potatoes Anna, which I have not made in years but have had a hankering for lately.  I think I’ll make a pear ginger crisp for dessert.  It’s impossible to find fresh cranberries here.  I thought about smuggling some in on my way back from the states last month, but figured I’d surely get busted by one of those suitcase sniffing beagles the Department of Agriculture uses (see below).  But last week, during my brownie mix quest, I found some cans of Ocean Spray cranberries—sauce AND jelly—at the Deli Shop.  So I picked up a can of the sauce.  It’ll be good on leftover turkey sandwiches.  And it’s a good thing I bought it when I saw it, because one of the PTA ladies told me she went this week, and it was all gone. So the Brownie Debacle was good for something.

Meanwhile, young Milo is down for the count.  Alec picked him up from school yesterday and he did not want to go to soccer.  Milo always wants to go to soccer.  He fell asleep in the car and, excepting the transfer to his bed and our waking him up to have some Tylenol and get his PJs on before we went to bed, he slept until 7 am today.  I spent 3 hours with him today at the clinic, waiting for doctors and test results.  They tested his blood for mono, and he was a real trooper when they stuck that needle into him.  Luckily, the test was negative, but he does have a throat and ear infection.  He went right to bed and fell asleep almost two hours ago.  Hopefully he will be right as rain by the time our turkey is cooked, on Sunday.

I miss my family today, all of whom are gathered at Jody, Matt and Zadie’s house.  I know it will be full of good smells and tasty food, and a lot of love.  Hoping we are all together next year!