추석과 같은 harvest festival 이죠. Thanksgiving Day 에는 역시 칠면조가 대표음식이고요, Green bean casserole ,pumkin pie 등을 꼽을 수 있겠네요. 칠면조는 자칫 잘 요리하지 못하면 살이 퍽퍽해서 그다지 맛있는 음식이 되지 못하지만, 맛있는 gravy그레이비(소스류,고기육수를 기본으로 한소스)를 준비해서 뿌리거나 찍어먹고, 허브등을 삼계탕할때 찹쌀 인삼 등을 넣어하는것처럼 칠면조에도 넣어서 요리하는 집들도 있습니다. 크기와 육질때문에 쉽지만은 않은 요리지만 한 해에 이때만큼은 정성껏 준비해서 가족들이 모여있는 식탁에서 멋들어지게 썰어내야 하죠.

다른 주에 공부하는 자식, 결혼해서 이사나가 식구들이 모이기도 하는 중요 구실을 하는 명절이라 한국의 추석과 같네요. 식구들이 모이면 우리가 덕담을 주고받듯, 여기선 다들

I am thankful for......  Thank you, Thank you를 입에 다는 날이고 아래 에밀리 선생님 블로그에서 보는것처럼 가족들이 모였을때 돌아가며 공개적으로 I am thankful for.....하고 말해야 하죠. 가족만은 아니고요, 이때를 즈음해서 친구들모임, 각종 미팅등에서 식사를 하게되면 자기가 가져온 음식자랑도 하지만 돌아가면서 이 Thankful for.....를 해야 한답니다. 그러다 보니 한번 더 내가 이렇게 고마와하는것들이 많구나 하고 생각해 보게 되는 의미깊은 날이 되구요.

 Jean Louis Gerome

* 일반적인 가정의 모습이 그려있는 블로그 입니다. 표현 공부도 해보십시요.

에밀리선생님의 쌩스기빙

by Emily H

I have always looked forward to Thanksgiving. As a kid, it meant that the long-anticipated winter break was only a few short weeks away. In college, it meant coming home for the first time since summer. And even now, it marks the start of something worth anticipating, the holiday season, a month-long period of apple cider, shopping, and all things Christmas.

Growing up, Thanksgiving was always a small celebration. As an only child with a father in the military, it was frequently just my parents and me at the Thanksgiving table. My father would handle the turkey and watch football in the living room and my mother would get up early to set the table and cook the sides, whipping up everything from the traditional green bean casserole to the her mother's coveted blue cheese dip. The spread was always more food than the three of us could handle (we ate leftovers for a week), but the day was cheerful and fun and intimate, the three of us making up our very own Thanksgiving party.

A few years after I met my husband, however, I began attending his family's Thanksgiving, and couldn't have found a version more different than my childhood's. My mother-in-law is one of seven children, and frequently, four or five of her siblings, and all of their children, would make it to the feast at my husband's grandparents. Usually, in total, there are around 25 people spread across the house, some finishing last minute preparations, others scouting the sale ads for the big Black Friday sales. The food is usually potluck, a dish or two brought from each of the families, and served buffet style out of the kitchen. There is no fancy china or pomp and circumstance, and even if someone wanted, the tv doesn't go on until after dinner.

The one thing that is the same between each of the Thanksgivings is the time our families take to say thanks for what they've been given over the last year. Growing up, my parents would say a prayer giving thanks for the meal and for our family. It was usually quick, but always important and something my mother always said she looked forward to. Similarly, at my husband's family's Thanksgiving, they take the time to say thanks. His grandfather says a prayer and then, standing in a large circle across the living room, each member of the family says something they're thankful for.

At first, having to speak so independently in front of my in-laws was scary, but as the years have gone on I look forward to this moment of thanks as much as I look forward to a slice of pumpkin pie. Although I am sometimes tongue-tied in front of the group, in the end, I am happy to get a chance to share what I'm most thankful for. Most years, it is my husband or an event in our lives that has been positive, sometimes it is simply the chilly weather we are lucky to get for the holiday every other year in northwest Florida, sometimes it is just getting to be there, among family.

Thanksgiving, in the end, is about that moment of thanks, whether small like my family's payer or extravagant like the circle at my in-laws. Those moments get back to the root of the holiday. And they're almost as good as the green bean casserole.