I loved holidays growing up, Christmas, Halloween, Easter, you name it, I was all in. The decorating, the food, the celebrations. As I have grown older, I admittedly have struggled more with the holidays and for some reason I am not so eager to celebrate them as much. However, there is one holiday I continue to love, nestled between two very commercial holidays and not one I celebrated as a child because frankly Ireland doesn’t do “Thanksgiving”.
When I first moved to America, I learned about the Native Americans and Pilgrims sitting down together to celebrate “Thanksgiving,” which obviously as I became older, and a history buff, wasn’t entirely true. I got to eat turkey for a second time in a year, I learned about green bean casseroles, squash, and candied yams. I got out of school for a few days, and I learned it was all about being grateful and reflecting on why I was grateful.
Over the years, I have celebrated Thanksgiving in different places, with different people. I have hosted and been a guest and I have always been grateful. My first Thanksgiving was with a bunch of nurses who came to America in the 1980’s. That holiday was more like our “traditional Irish” Christmas dinner. We knew nothing about yams or cornbread. We got a turkey that exceeded the size of the oven in the apartment. That was a problem-solving year.
I learned to bake squash and when I went back to Ireland for university, butternuts had made an appearance in the shops, so I was able to bake one for my relatives. That year I celebrated Thanksgiving with Americans in Dublin, drinking wine & cider, discussing politics, and laughing over how hard it was to get some of our favorite foods from America. This was the year we aspired and had visions of our futures.
Several Thanksgivings were spent with roommates and the hodge podge of people who had nowhere else to go and who came to us. Those were some of the best holiday meals as we each brought our own signature dish to the table, and lived on leftovers for days to come. We set up our table and put out our mismatched dishes. We’d sit around the table sharing stories and planning our next adventures, we were just starting our careers.
Then there were the Thanksgivings I spent with a good friend and her family. In exchange for room and board, I helped paint a nursery and learned to play some amazing board & card games. I also crossed the border to Canada and celebrated their Thanksgiving and spent time with my Canadian Family. These years, my friends were becoming families and I was so grateful to be included.
Consistently, throughout the years, no matter how or where I have celebrated, I have been reflective of my year and always grateful. I love that this holiday is just about gathering, there is no commercial element to it. It is a time to celebrate family traditions, watch football or play it. It is a time to share stories, laughs and sometimes recipes. For some, it is a time to start their Christmas shopping or decorating, and for others it is a time to rest and revive their being to brace for the cold dark days of winter.
This Thanksgiving, I am as always, grateful for the opportunities afforded to me, the time I have gotten to spend with family and friends. I have gratitude for the life events I’ve attended and although some were sad, I am so grateful I got to celebrate those who touched/changed my life. Although this holiday is a borrowed one for me, it is the holiday I cherish the most each year. Wishing you all the happiest of Thanksgivings!
