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Author: Colleen
Sitting at my desk, I am now realizing what a huge bummer it is not to get Thanksgiving off of work outside of the United States. This is my first Thanksgiving without a visit home, so I am inwardly *sighing* a great deal as I think of all that I’m missing out on…in about 3 hours, my mom will probably be loading up the oven with the big bird and dashing about the house with last-minute preparations before my siblings and their spouses and children arrive. The lunch-time gorging will ensue before those that need to attend dinner at their in-laws’ homes leave and those that stay slip into a drowsy tryptophan-induced coma (lest we forget the Turkey chemical that makes us sleepy), trousers unzipped to allow a bloated belly some breathing room while a marathon of American football plays on in the background. After the naps, somehow the stomach is ready for more, and the Thanksgiving feast reappears in its second incarnation for the day: Turkey sandwiches and pumpkin pie. Ahhh, good food in good company is something to be thankful for indeed.
Hmm, I might not be helping to encourage Americans to move to London talking like this, but I do have a point. First of all, purchasing a roundtrip plane ticket is not outrageously difficult to do in order to be home and experience abovesaid delights firsthand. Costly, perhaps, but it’s up to you how worth it it is. Second, just because it isn’t a UK holiday doesn’t preclude you from celebrating it here; in fact, the city is gracious enough to hold a special Thanksgiving service at St. Paul’s Cathedral (it was at 11am this morning) as well as offer bounteous traditional Thanksgiving feasts in assorted locales. Visit the ViewLondon.co.uk link below for establishments serving in your area:
Third, if you’re looking to prepare the feast at home, you might check out Partridge’s store, which stocks its shelves with oft-missed American goods like Kraft Macaroni & Cheese and Pop Tarts. I, for one, think I’m going to check out the one on Gloucester Road in South Kensington for Stove Top stuffing.
And fourth, regardless how you choose to celebrate Thanksgiving in London, there is a wonderful new invention called the telephone–you’ve undoubtedly got a good international plan going for you (if not, try the Talkmobile SIM card for calls to the States for 4 pence a minute), so give those loved ones a call tonight! If you want to take it up a notch and demonstrate your technological savvy (and have somehow already convinced your family members to invest in web cams…no small feat, admittedly; baby steps, baby steps…), might I recommend Skype as an audiovisual means of feeling closer to those at home.
From us here at London Relocation Ltd., Happy Thanksgiving!
[...] I recall waxing nostalgic about Thanksgiving last year as an American expat, as it was my first-ever Thanksgiving away from home . Aw, [...]