Our first Thanksgiving

We had to learn a few new American Traditions, for example Thanksgiving.

We never celebrated it before so we needed some help from our friends who explained to us what it means and how you celebrate it. What a great tradition: a holiday without gifts and big expectations, it is just about being with family and friends and…food. The last one was kind of difficult. I never made a turkey before, not even for Christmas (It is not a tradition in Germany). I got almost a heart attack looking at all this huge (!) frozen turkeys at the grocery store. And what are “sweet potatoes”? And how can you put marshmallows on top of it?! To like this you have to be American. I feel the same when I see a root beer-float, our friends favourite desert. Of course, I did not know about cranberries and pumpkin bread ( I discovered it is actually a pumpkin cake), stuffing… and so on.

Fortunately my friend arrived in the morning and helped me to make my first turkey. It was a big success. We celebrated with a few friends.

And I learned also what black Friday means.

The day before Thanksgiving my friend said ”Let`s go shopping on Friday. I pick you up at 5”. “Great, should we go out for dinner after?” I asked. She looked at me concerned “I mean 5 am”. I thought she was joking. I could not believe that there are people shopping in the malls at 5 am! But there they were: holding their coffee cups, waiting in long lines and looking for the best bargains, especially for Christmas gifts. How strange! How crazy!

Ps. I almost forgot to mention my absolute favorite thing to do in the fall: going to all this beautiful farms in our area for pumpkin- and apples picking!