Sunday, November 28, 2010

Thanksgiving in Prague

We don't take time off for the long Thanksgiving weekend, though I do get a little free and easy feeling, as if I'm on vacation rather than writing proposals until midnight. That's thanks to Facebook and the holiday high my friends from home catch on Thanksgiving Eve, when everyone turns giddy for a few hours before they head off for the long weekend.

So, no Thursday holiday but we did get to reap the rewards of another friend's day off and the huge turkey feast he cooked to show the children just what Thanksgiving is all about. It was a delicious turkey, and the food nearly made me weep (since he couldn't find cream of mushroom soup for the green beans he substituted bechamel, he's that kind of guy). The kids thought our story of the pilgrims and Indians more interesting than the food, but at least we all agreed that the crunchy Thai dried onion mix (our local replacement for french fried onions) was good on just about everything, not just the green beans.

Prague Thanksgivings come in at least twos, sometimes more, and Saturday is our traditional fancy dinner, celebrated with another set of friends, no children, until the wee hours of the night. This was our eighth year together, and there is something so civilized about being able to talk through a meal that we haven't yet invited the kids, though we did debate it. We eventually decided that as soon as they like turkey, they can come.

Next year it's my turn to host the kids for a Thursday night meal. We'll tell stories, I'll have onion mix and ketchup ready at hand to spice up the turkey and mashed potatoes. And I'll look forward to our Saturday night supper, sans children, but full of fun, good conversation and long lasting memories. Cheers to you Miss Marjorie C!

5 comments:

Roderick Robinson said...

You disappoint me. Apart from the fact that Thanksgiving is easily the best celebration on the US calendar (because it's the least corrupted) it's also impressive to us foreigners because of the way Americans jump into planes and fly enormous distances just to be with the family - and only for a brief period. I suppose your excuse is you were over there only recently. And, of course, you're in the process of going Czech native.

One measure of departing childhood is the moment when Kris Kringle gets ditched. A further measure will be when the veracity of the Indians/Pilgrims story is queried and you all sit down and read Kafka aloud. By the way, we never did visit the Kafka Museum, possibly because of an abiding fear that we would emerge totally changed. Did you and were you?

deedee said...

It sounds like you had a good Thanksgiving! I like the idea of celebrating with the kids on a different night than the adults. I had to make plain green beans (without the cream of mushroom soup) for the kids.

Julia said...

BB, we do miss the family on holidays, but not the travel. Our Thanksgiving tale is influenced by the academics in the family, so the kids are growing up with the venison version of the story, rather than straight turkey.

I've never been to the Kafka museum either, maybe one of these snowy Sundays!

D, it is a super nice way to begin the holiday season, totally recommended!

Jennifer said...

We did thanksgiving on Saturday with kids running all over the place, which was fun in it's own right. But the grown up version sounds lovely, too, and it might be time to shoot for one of each.

Anonymous said...

This sounds really yummy--and I like hybrid holidays. That's the only way to go--morph them to your taste and circumstances.