The holiday season is here, which makes being an ex-pat a little more difficult. Without family and friends nearby to celebrate with, Thanksgiving and Christmas can be a bit sad. So the best thing to do is plan a big party!
There are quite a few ex-pats here in town, working for The Company, so I checked around to see if anyone would be interested in having a big American Thanksgiving and renting out a place to do it. The response was overwhelming. We ended up having about 50 people, including a lot of the American ex-pats and some people of other nationalities who got to experience our traditions. We had a ton of food, including 4 turkeys, and the location we rented was lovely. It all went off without a hitch, and everyone was glad to have the chance to get together and celebrate. There’s already talk of renting the space out again next year for a Fourth of July party, when we’ll be able to take advantage of the good weather and abundance of sunshine to enjoy the large yard included in the rental!
Did I mention yet how much food there was? We kept having to add tables and move the dessert table down (then add a table to that) because there was so much food! We had pretty much all the standard fare – besides the turkeys, there was mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, stuffing, pumpkin pie, deviled eggs…the list goes on and on.
It was great to get together with new friends and celebrate Thanksgiving in a big, traditional, ex-pat way!
Only a portion of the buffet table(s)!
Our decorative turkey, put together by a Brit!
A portion of the dessert table!
I’ll be blogging about the Thanksgiving Kitchen Challenge soon, so stay tuned!
Embrace Life. Be Inspired. 
first, that decorative turkey is awesome. second, this looks like such a fun thanksgiving! glad it all went well and everyone had a good time. what did the other nationalities think of the festivities?
july 4th would be a great one to celebrate as well!
You know, turkeys aren’t native to Britain (as is the case with Thanksgiving). Maybe that is why you got a pheasant instead?
I finally posted something new on my blog for the first time since this summer and noticed that my second-highest source of traffic came from you – and I didn’t even know your blog existed. A belated welcome, and if you are ever hanging out in Tampere for a week or two and want to have coffee with a small family of 2-year-veteran jenkit, just drop me a comment.
By the way, I love your kitchen challenges. It reminds me of my own dietary adjustments since we’ve moved here. I’ve been craving tamales for a whole year now.
Mmmm…tamales….
Will definitely let you know when I’m in Tampere next. We went once last April, and we were there for about two hours…certainly not long enough to see anything! I want to get out there in the summer – I hear there are some good hiking trails by the lake(s)!
There certainly is. Good snacking along the way, too. Just bring your mosquito spray.
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