How Goes Thanksgiving Overseas

More then just about any other holiday overseas, Americans place a huge emphasis on Thanksgiving. Quite a few people go home for Christmas, but rarely Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is important to the American culture, you know this when you start creating a list of all the Americans you know in your overseas location.

What Americans will do and pay for a turkey overseas. Oh the meat I've had for Thanksgiving during my 10 years overseas has been downright criminal but it has to be some kind of turkey. We pay the $8 for the cranberry sauce and join in the fellowship of "Americans Who Stress Over the Thanksgiving Dinner." It's important to recreate the feast not only for the cultural significance but because there are so many reasons to give thanks. Even though we're not with people who might mean the most to us, there are aspect of our lives to celebrate. I have known of Americans with a dish having guy parties to watch the football games. Sports.

This year, it was the most traditional I've ever known overseas and perhaps the most fun. We sat around with friends and enjoyed the spread, told jokes and swapped stories about who had the most bizarre story with a foreign airline (that was the hardest to judge). It wasn't so Norman Rockwell-ish but to us it was fabulous, down to the mosque prayers in the distance. We also have the maid which comes the following day and washes all the dishes, ha, ha, ha! There's no Black Friday overseas. I live in an Islamic Republic. The money stays in my wallet. And though it's the wrong holiday to say this, God bless us, everyone.