Taking Thanksgiving Seriously

This year, the members of my family were scattered around the world for Thanksgiving. My father was in the OC, my mother was in Taiwan, my sister was in Boston, and I was in India. We all celebrated Thanksgiving in our own ways.

Being abroad gave me the opportunity to celebrate Thanksgiving in a very unique way and also to think about the meaning of the holiday from a different perspective. My friends Emily, Jared, Ben, and I got together for a grand funny potluck, trying to replicate the traditional foods with Indian ingredients. Mashed pototaos with yogurt (substituting for milk?), apple crumble with extra butter (substituting for shortening?), and hot dogs in a can and tuna jerky (substituting for ???). The cafeteria even tried to present a grand Thanksgiving lunch that day; it wasn't very close, but was a great attempt!

To me, Thanksgiving always meant eating a grand feast, surrounded by family members. But what about when you don't have quite the feast anymore? Or when you and your peers are the ones who have to come up with the food ideas? And you're all missing your friends and family from home? And what about our Canadian and Indian friends here, what do they think? How do you take Thanksgiving seriously?

Well, everyone has their own answer. To me, it seems that the food isn't quite so important. You should be thankful for what you have -- even if it's only cheese and crackers and hot dogs in a can. The act of coming together as a team to recreate Thanksgiving dinner was in itself quite fun and meaningful, as well as resourceful. What's that song quote?: "sometimes you don't get what you want, but you get what you need..." To me, the real thing that matters is love and friendship -- no matter how excruciatingly hard and sappy it is to say that. Yes, I miss my family, but it is cool to send emails asking each other how her/his Thanksgiving was. Friends from home, you are cool! And whichever friends are around, then let's celebrate while we still can. People who don't celebrate Thanksgiving, let's hang out anyway!

Unfortunately, my camera batteries died, so I don't have any pictures. Here are Emily & Jared's story and Ben's cynical yet meaningful story, both with pictures! Gobble, gobble. I am looking forward to going home in a few weeks!!!