Thankgiving in Italy

So last I left you, it was before the Thanksgiving holiday!  Wow, how time flies!  We celebrated our first Thanksgiving here and after it was all said and done, I thought to myself, 'I now know why everyone around here travels for Thanksgiving.' Thanksgiving should be about getting family together, giving thanks for everything you have and for those in your life. It's a time for family and on a good day, some football! But, living in the states, the holiday often gets overlooked with the parades leading up to Santa Claus to start the holiday season, the infamous Black Friday sales, the creation of a  plan of attack for the good sales, who will wait in line for that special gift and the setting of alarms to make sure you are the first in line to Target which opens earlier and earlier every year. Sadly the holiday has been commercialized and when you are used to something, doing it another way seems so blase.

As I stood in the kitchen dressing my turkey, I yearned for the Macy's Day Parade to be playing in the background. Although I did get to see it much later in the day, it just wasn't the same. As I made our turkey and all the wonderful dishes to accompany it, I tried to remained positive as the day just seemed off. Perhaps it was that thanksgiving was earlier this year, or maybe it was because I couldn't call family, or maybe it was the lack of a Black Friday paper and the ads. But I believe the biggest reason was that this is an American holiday and it is not celebrated in Italy. For Italians it was a normal day, with normal store hours and normal tv. I was celebrating a holiday that celebrated by all in my host country and darn it, it felt weird!  At any rate, the day was depressing. Geesh! i hate to say that, but it was. I supposed it also didn't help that my husband finally told me after almost 20 years of marriage that he doesn't really like turkey very much! As soon as the dinner plates were cleared at 3pm, and while the parade played in the background on my computer, I put away the fall decorations and  took out the Christmas ones. I felt as if bringing in the holiday spirit would in turn lift mine. It did for a bit, and I thought maybe this is just going to be our holiday tradition now.

As I spoke to a few of my friends who traveled during the holiday, I asked why they did it. Oddly enough, it was for the same reasons I posted above. It was a depressing holiday that didn't feel like a traditional holiday for most. So they were willing to forego the turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie for sandwiches at a bistro in Paris or bratwurst in Germany all for the sake of changing a tradition. And frankly, I don't blame them. So for next year, I'm all about changing tradition for really the holiday about family right? So although my husband may not like turkey, even though it's traditional, and my kids my not like a huge meal at 2pm, because that's our traditional dinner time, perhaps it is time to let go of my traditions and start forming my own family's traditions. I am sure once we go back to the states, all bets are off but perhaps we could keep a little of the traditional holiday inside us and carry on to form new ones..

And I might add for all those savvy shoppers out there, black friday shopping is great,  you get some good deals online and such, but it's not as gratifying. You don't get that immediate rush of feeling and satisfaction when you bring the gift home, because here I have to wait about 2 weeks for delivery. There is something to be said about crazy crowds at crazy early morning hours and the rush you get from engaging in that activity. But then again, I got to sit in my pjs, with my hot cocoa in hand, and shop to my heart's content online, no waiting in the cold, no long lines and no pushing. That was nice too.