thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is on Thursday but you'd hardly know it since it's not a celebrated holiday here. I guess the English must have made it pretty clear that they would not appreciate the locals celebrating the survival of the original colonists in the Americas. Or maybe if there were a winter here in Singapore it would have been more of a challenge for the colonists to survive through-giving them something to be thankful for. Did the original colonists here just take the easy life in the tropics for granted?...hmmm.... maybe if their first year here was particularly bad for Dengue fever some kind of thanks-giving holiday related to that would have been invented. Actually none of that even really make sense, never mind. It's true origins shrouded in mystery and controversy, thanksgiving is celebrated in the US and Canada and means three things: turkey, football, and the start of the Christmas shopping season. Oh, yes, and also Family. Here's one history of the holiday

Walking home from the supermarket today, carrying a frozen turkey through the rain, I realized two things. The first was how absurd it seemed to be walking home in the tropics during a rain storm rain with a frozen turkey. Ice cream melts so fast here but I figured it takes a really long time for a turkey to thaw out so I didn't worry too much. The second thing I realized was that this would be the first thanksgiving away from my parents. Since my brothers and sisters are now grown, some starting their own families, we haven’t all been together for every holiday but I was thinking- I think I've been there for every one.

So instead, this year I'm going to host a dinner at my place with some friends, but it will be on Saturday instead of Thursday since we don't get a day off work which is one thing I will not get to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. I actually wasn't very excited about it this year but some friends convinced me to host a dinner at my place, the main reason being that I have not one but two ovens! which seem to be a rarity in kitchens here. And in these modern times it's so easy to plan a party: Just a few emails, a few phone calls or maybe text messages and you're done! Anyone can do it, like my grandpa here, talking to his peeps planning out the next Thanksgiving no doubt!