“I am so very thankful for
having all our family reunited here today,” I say. We raise our glasses, even 3
½ year-old Beltrán, glasses filled with wine or water or juice. I look at the
faces around our table: Nico and his girlfriend Laura, both recently arrived
from the States; Danny, Ale and their four children: twins Colomba and Manuela,
Pascuala and Beltrán; and my husband, Santiago. Table conversation is a lively mix
of Spanish and English and translations.
What a joy to spend the day in the kitchen preparing the Thanksgiving
fixings with Laura, sharing menu ideas, googling for recipes, a job I'd usually
done alone. She makes a delicious apple pie.
We’d seldom celebrated Thanksgiving here
at home over the years. Not being a holiday in Chile, Santiago was at work and
the boys in classes or studying for year-end tests. When the boys were younger,
we’d gather with other bi-national families for a Thanksgiving pot luck picnic
at Marion and Bob’s farm. That tradition ended when families became too
numerous. But now, with Nico and Laura here, I wanted to do a traditional
Thanksgiving to make Laura feel at home and to impart some of the Thanksgiving
tradition to our grandchildren.
I
pull out all the stops: best blue linen tablecloth and my mother’s china and
silver. Some of the silver is tarnished from little use, so I sit down to polish
a few pieces which brings back memories of family Thanksgivings of my
childhood. The job of polishing silver often fell to me. My mother rose early
to prepare the turkey and stuffing, the mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. I’d
help set the table with a white linen tablecloth and napkins and the same china
and silver we use today.
At
the end of the evening, my heart is full. I am contented and grateful for a traditional
American Thanksgiving with all of our binational family gathered around the
table, complete with spilled juice and Frida, the dog, scouting for crumbs
under the table.
