Celebrating Thanksgiving in Germany
Of course Germans don't celebrate Thanksgiving. It appears to be a purely American (and Canadian) holiday. Originally, Nina and I were planning to have Thanksgiving dinner with the Liddle Family, Americans whom Nina knew via their mutual love of Tolkien and who are now stationed at Ramstein Air Base (mom is in the military). However, two of the daughters were going to Italy on a class trip and the Liddles don't eat meat so they were going to have tofu turkey. I so hate tofu, having had to put up with its myriad incarnations for two years while in China. However, as it turned out, Nina's doctors advised her that she should not go anyway because her immune system is pretty much shot and she's not allowed to do things like go shopping or visit friends for fear of having her system compromised even further. That's particularly crucial during this time of year when people are coming down with colds and such. So we cancelled out with our apologies.
Reinhilde, though, wanted me to have something special for dinner on this particular day. Preparing a turkey, even a small one, would've been too much bother, so we settled on chicken legs. I went shopping with Reinhilde since Nina couldn't go. Nina is amazed that Reinhilde and I can go shopping together in spite of the fact that neither one of us can communicate in each other's language. She asked how we managed and I told her by the oldest form of communication known to Mortals: a smile and lots of hand gestures.
Later that evening, when I was called to dinner, it was to find that the table had been set specially for this particular meal with the good (handpainted) German china and silver. Gathered around the table were not only Nina, Reinhilde, Kira and myself, but our friends Jutta, Volker, Uwe and Bettina (not to mention Peppy the dog). The menu consisted of cauliflower soup, roasted chicken legs, mashed potatoes and gravy, red cabbage and a green salad. I had some Bitberger beer, one of the best beers in Germany, and dessert was slices of apple/strawberry and apple/raisin streudel with a vanilla pudding that was almost like a tapioca.
It may not have been a turkey dinner but it was probably the best Thanksgiving dinner I've had in a long time, for it's not what's eaten that makes it Thanksgiving, but with whom one is sharing the meal and why. It's been a very long time since I've celebrated Thanksgiving in a family setting and I am very grateful to have been granted the chance to do so once again with people who have become a second family to me.
And I hope your Thanksgiving was equally as pleasant.