Thanksgiving All Over

While spending Thanksgiving away from my family isn't the way I'd prefer to celebrate the holiday, each Thanksgiving that I've celebrated away from home has been particularly memorable and blessed. This post is my means of thanking you, if you've hosted me (and my family) or thanking your for joining me--I can't express how much those holidays have meant!

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Thanksgiving 2001--Las Cruces, New Mexico

Jane and Don Carter invited myself and my housemates (the Las Cruces Border Servant Corps volunteers 2001-2002) for the day. We went particularly early, and probably made a nuisance of ourselves, as Ryan and I really wanted to be there to watch Jane prepare the turkey for the oven, in the event that we would have to host a Thanksgiving ourselves the following year or two. Ha--in my case that didn't happen for another 8 years! Preparation put to good use! But I do remember the Carters being nothing but gracious hosts. We passed a memorable day with them (did we spend the night, just to be able to watch Jane put the turkey in the oven at 6am?), and I remember it feeling like we were spending the holiday with family. Thanks, Carters!

I also remember Jane letting us use her hot wax hand treatment---ahhhh, bliss!

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Thanksgiving 2003 & 2004--Cuernavaca, Mexico (NPH, Casa Guadalupe)

Every year since . . . well, heaven-only-knows-when, Janet Cremin and Joan Provenzano invited the NPH volunteers to their house for Thanksgiving (and Christmas dinner). While we may have spent our weekends in the houses in the backyard of Casa Guadalupe, those were the two days a year we were allowed inside that venerable house. The dramatic difference between volunteer housing in Miacatlan and Thanksgiving dinner at Casa Guadalupe felt a bit over the top . . . or maybe that was the cocktail hour on the roof of the house before mass and then dinner. While Janet and Joan may no longer be in Mexico to host Thanksgiving and Christmas, I am told that Dona Lupe still prepares a mouth-watering Thanksgiving dinner every year, and the volunteers still get the day off to enjoy it. While I enjoyed all my time with the kids, Thanksgiving was always the highlight of each of my years at NPH.

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2007 & 2008 (no Thanksgiving, just moved each year.)

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Thanksgiving 2009, Saltillo

Having just made friends with another gringa-married-to-a-Mexican, I invited them over for Thanksgiving. We waited FOREVER for the turkey to be finished cooking, munching on olives in the meantime, and got to know each other better, while our daughters (13 months and 9 months) did their best to play together. A year later, after near-daily phone conversations and weekly visits, I can't express to this family how grateful I've been for their friendship. This year was also memorable, as it was Mario's first Thanksgiving.

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Thanksgiving 2010, Saltillo

We made plans to have a repeat of last year's Thanksgiving, also including another gringa-married-to-a-Mexican family who have also become good friends in the last year. We had heard rumors that other mutual friends tend to do a big Thanksgiving, inviting other gringos in town, but as they were in Texas until the day before Thanksgiving, we weren't planning on them having Thanksgiving, at least not for a crowd.

So behold my surprise when this family pulled all the stops and hosted Thanksgiving, less than 24 hours after coming home from two weeks in Texas!

As Mario and I repeated on the way home, "uhhh . . . soooo full . . . but it was soooo good!"

We still had standing plans of hosting Thanksgiving at our house today, but yesterday Mario came down with something, as had the husband and son of one of my friends, and the other friend's daughter tends to catch any virus/bacteria that comes her way. So, this afternoon, the three of us sat down to a very large turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes (left over from last week), and cole slaw (I had been craving it). The food was just as good, but the afternoon really lacked something without the enjoyable company that we anticipated.

But, next weekend, when everyone is feeling better, we'll bust out those turkey leftovers, add some mole to them, and call it a success. And I know that the Mexicans invited are really looking forward to that "Thanksgiving"!

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If you've found yourself described in this post, thank you so much for sharing your holiday with me. And if you're one of these people, we've certainly shared much more than the holiday with me--you've been a friend when I've been far from all that is familiar. Whether our friendship has endured or was a passing thing while we were thrown together in the same boat, you have had a significant impact on my life and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

And Mom, Dad, Dan--next year you all will be here, right? ;)