Thanksgiving in Madrid way surpassed my expectations. God has a habit of doing that.
Being greeted by my community, as well as the apostolate community, with a chorus of hugs and “Happy Thanksgiving” on Thursday morning started the celebrations. Since we had our meal on Saturday, I really wasn´t expecting to celebrate at all on Thursday, but it was definitely still Thanksgiving Day (although my first in school.) From that surprise on, all the little things added up to leave me feeling very loved and very grateful for experiencing God´s love through my community.
Step 1. Make a trip to the American store. I discovered that Crisco, corn syrup, canned pumpkin, and Campbell´s cream of mushroom soup have become specialty items. But I´m pretty sure “Capri-Sonne” is not exactly spelled in English.
Step 2. Start the day by gathering together at Mass to give thanks to God as a community (in English!)
Step 3. The cooking begins with the evolution of the pecan pie: Begin with cracking the nuts and making the pie crusts from scratch. End with extremely authentic Thanksgiving pie. Pumpkin too, of course!
Step 4. TWO 20-lb TURKEYS!! Lovingly named Frederica and Joe. Don´t forget the rest of the spread: stuffing and gravy, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, even green bean casserole…down to the whipped cream.
Step 5. Spend three hours making biscuits. Yep, my job. LOTS of biscuits. Totally-worth-it biscuits–a new but amazing recipe (from guess what website? The Homesick Texan. How appropriate.) I enjoyed explaining to passers-by that no, I´m not making cookies. I promise, the recipe told me to hit the dough with the rolling pin…
Step 6. Add some American spirit – singing the Star Spangled Banner (yes, we know it´s not July 4th, but we´re trying to be “authentic”, remember?), God Bless America, some not-so-strictly-American-but-beautiful songs like You Raise Me Up and How Beautiful, and reading the first Thanksgiving Proclamation by George Washington (Spanish translation included). Don´t forget the open mic with words of gratitude…
Step 7. Have a BIG BEAUTIFUL FAMILY made up of at least 9 nationalities…all celebrating Thanksgiving out of sincere love for each other and in true gratitude to God. When you find that somewhere other than in a true family, tell me.
