Dear Camaraderie, have you celebrated Thanksgiving?

Okay, this is an event I’m adding to my secret project in the Study Abroad Novels releasing in Summer 2022. Something with family coming together, even before Christmas and sharing what they are thankful for and maybe a fight breaks out? Hehehehe

But what’s writing a story without drama?

I am a Nigerian by birth and thanksgiving was foreign to me the first year I arrived in the United States. It was like, what’s the use when there’s Christmas? But I’ve come to realize both are different, with individual purposes.

Personally, I believe Americans value thanksgiving more than Christmas.

So… my first thanksgiving. 

It was organized by a community for international students. They had families volunteer to host a number of us – international students – to introduce us to the tradition. It was a chilly night, I had a short red gown I had been itching to wear and a fluffy fur jacket. My friends and I took the metro train from Foggy Bottom, DC to Vienna, VA. When we arrived, the lady of the house was still setting up and we joined in. The kids were fun, two boys between the ages of five to eleven, if my memory serves me right. The younger boy was so cue and will be a heartbreaker – his parents are proud of him and the conclusion we the guests made.. So cute!

We ate a lot of food! Okay, jokes apart, I tasted a lot of food.  I didn’t see any jollof rice, so it was kinda weird. Any Nigerian event that didn’t have jollof rice hadn’t started yet so I had to reset my brain. Potatoes. Gosh. There were a lot of potato based meals, but the custard pie won my heart. Yeah and the turkey… I have learnt two things so far in my stay away from Nigeria… Don’t know what to eat? Eat meat! Turkey and chicken are my go to at events. You rarely find people use beef in the US, but yes meat and fruits have been my go to, even now at Nigerian parties here because some people don’t know how to prepare that Naija flava… I digress.

Okay, back to thanksgiving!

My second Thanksgiving, I went to two locations… I was a big girl, versed in the ways of navigating the system now. At the end of the day, I celebrated with two families and tried two turkeys. It’s now a contest for me to rate which turkey was well seasoned and perfect for my tastebuds, then ask for to go.

Now, to the serious matter, thanksgiving to me is actually a time to thank God for family, friends and food. It’s similar to a Nigerian Christmas, just that we’re not celebrating the birth of Jesus, going to church, or eating jollof. Thanksgiving is celebrated every last Thursday in November, for some it’s not something to be celebrated because it signifies arrival of colonizers, for me, thanking God is a daily act.

Now over to you. What was your first thanksgiving like?