Thursday, November 23, 2006

Happy Thanksgiving!


I have all but stopped celebrating traditional Thanksgiving. For one, it isn't a national holiday outside the US and two, I had to work today.


When the boys were younger and I could devote my days to domesticity, I would make a small nod to the Thanksgiving dinners of my past and try to instill a little bit of US family tradition. Now that the older boys have left home and I'm working full time, I don't bother. Don't get me wrong, I'm still grateful for all of God's blessings in my life, I am just not going to cook a huge meal to celebrate.


The Man of the Place is a vegetarian and our youngest boy George thinks that he might be a vegetarian too. So, I would be the only person eating turkey if I cooked one. Last year I had a Thanksgiving dinner on the Saturday following and had a few people over. That was fun. Most of the turkey was eaten and those who had never been to a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner got to try some of the things they heard about. One of the guests last year was a former Minnesota resident so I made tater tot hotdish as one of the side dishes.


Tonight we're going to have bangers and mash. Instead of ordinary British pork sausages, I am substituting vegetarian sausages. I will however make a point of remembering all the reasons we have to be thankful.


Here are a few: (list is not inclusive)


  • my whole family is alive and healthy

  • we all have a warm place to live

  • we all have food to eat

  • we have clean water to drink

  • we are fortunate enough to be able to travel

  • I love my husband

  • he loves me

  • I love my children

  • and I know they love me

  • we have some fantastic friends

  • we have a great house

  • I love living in our village

  • I love living in Scotland

  • we got to dive in the Red Sea this year

  • I love my new dog Polly

  • I started this blog this year

  • the blog got me writing again

  • the blog got me back in touch with some old friends

  • the blog connected me to some new and frankly, fabulous people

I hope each and every one of you have a nice Thanksgiving. If you don't celebrate Thanksgiving, just have a think about all you have to be thankful for


11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bangers and mash sounds good to me ;)
I had eggs and bacon for lunch!
I am afraid the métro stop Abbesses is closed at the moment, so we'll have to find another place to meet.
I'll write during the week.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving or whatever else, like a happy Friday and a great weekendh

Anonymous said...

You're right, turkey dinner does not make the holiday! Although it's the one time of year that I really like to cook. Mimi and I have been hard at work for a few hours now. We just popped the bird in and have an hour or so before any guests arrive.

I love your thankful list. I need to do one of those as well.

Happy Thanksgiving!

bob mullen said...

Happy Thankgiving Peggy

T said...

Happy Thanksgiving, Peggy & family!

Peggy said...

See? There are some of those fabulous people I mentioned! Claude, Susan, Bob and our Bird Woman. Thanks guys!

Kell said...

You have a lot of wonderful things in your life to be thankful for.

We're all yawning and thinking of changing into sweats now because our pants feel tight. But it was so worth it.

Anonymous said...

And A great big Thanksgiving back at you Peggy. As with many holidays I think many of us get caught up in the hustle and bustle along with the dinners and forget to pause and contemplate our "list" as you have put in your post.

Anonymous said...

Thank you Peggy for your warm wishes...and yes, there are MANY things to be thankful for. You had a beautiful list. Have a terrific weekend.

Anonymous said...

Happy Thanksgiving to you also. Bangers and mash sounds good to me, too!

Molly said...

You know, some of us leave Minnesota to get away from tater tot hotdish! :)

tom said...

Hey, Happy Thanksgiving from across the ocean!