When I hear the word “Thanksgiving” the first thing that comes to mind is a turkey. 😀 I know. I know. It’s pretty obvious why. 😀  But back in the days when I hear someone say turkey what comes to mind is a pet. At least that’s prior to living in America because back in the Philippines we don’t really eat turkey. No one would dare to eat a turkey there. At least no one that I know of. I was actually somewhat disgusted with the idea initially and I feel the same way with eating a duck (I still wouldn’t eat a duck). When I was in my teens living in the Philippines, we had a neighbor that had a turkey as a pet. The turkey just roams around along with the chickens and other pets that they have. Sometimes other kids would taunt the turkey and the bird starts chasing them. It’s actually kind of funny to watch them get chased by the big bird. 😀

Anyway,  Thanksgiving was the very first major holiday I celebrated with my family here. It was also my first time meeting some of my stepmom’s relatives. I was really very shy and barely spoke. I barely ate too although I did ate a bit of turkey with cranberry sauce, stuffing and I think sweet potato. I can’t remember exactly if it was indeed sweet potato because that was seventeen years ago. 😀 I had only been living in America for three weeks at the time and I was still adjusting to my surroundings, the culture and people. There’s a lot of firsts for me that day. It was my first time eating a turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and probably whatever else I ate that day that I don’t usually eat while living in the Philippines. 😀 A part of me seriously wanted to eat some turkey with rice that night! Hahahaha! 😀

After dinner, the family shared some stories with each other then watched a movie in the living room. I remember thinking to myself, “This is it? That’s how they celebrate holidays here?”, I couldn’t help but compare it to how we celebrate holidays in the Philippines where it’s usually very festive. But what I learned is that although each nation celebrated holidays in very different ways both clearly gives importance to traditional values which is something very important to me.

Thanksgiving has since became one of my favorite holidays although I’m not really as excited about it as I usually am this year. I think it’s because last year around this time, I was back home in the Philippines visiting my grandmother with my mother and better half. It’s a bittersweet feeling for me since that was the last time I saw my grandmother before she passed away 10 weeks later. But I will try to enjoy the holiday that most people in America seems to celebrate more rather than Christmas. 🙂 The reality of that actually makes me sad but we’re all different with different preferences and I respect that. I think what’s important is that we spend quality time with those that are near and dear to us. It’s a great time to catch up with each other over a wonderful meal or even go midnight shopping together. Or maybe not the midnight shopping! Hahahaha! 😀 I’m guilty of doing that in prior years but I don’t think I’ll ever do that again since I don’t look forward to big crowds, long wait to cash out and horrible parking conditions. Plus, I always find better deals online so why stress myself out, right? 😉

How about you? How do you celebrate Thanksgiving?