I used to think that Thanksgiving was over-rated, that lounging on the couch fat and tired from too much carrot soufflé and too much tryptophan wasn’t that exciting after all. What it did offer, though, was really a great long weekend to travel (last year’s “honeymoon” throughout Ireland with Anna was one of my best yet). So I didn’t have much FOMO at missing Thanksgiving at home again this year. I got to create my own in South Africa.

And create it we did. Anjarae and I began preparations for our enormous feast days in advance, from chopping apples until dawn for not one Ultimate Caramel Apple Pie but two, to roasting and pureeing her own pumpkin (there’s a lack of Libby’s here), to creating a Pepperidge Farm stuffing-knockoff from two fresh loaves of bread, oregano, and a hell of a lot of black pepper. Despite turning temporarily vegetarian while prepping the turkey, it was enjoyable. And when we invited about 50 guests into our new home on Sunday, it was all worth it.

 

Sitting up on the sunny patio, our plates laden with the best mac n cheese and carrot soufflé on the whole continent, we made our new fifty-person-family go around and say what they were all thankful for. Good times with good friends. My roommate. Faith, hope, and love. This carrot soufflé. All the Americans sharing this holiday with us. The new James Bond movie. For allowing me to bum food off of strangers. Some elicited laughter while other brought out Awww’s, but each one showed that we were doing more than just stuffing ourselves silly together. We were celebrating gratitude— for things great and small.

 

 At Assembly on Monday afternoon, Chris gave the Dean’s Message on Thanksgiving. “This week there was an American holiday. It happens to be my favorite holiday,” he began. He spoke about the importance of Gratitude. As he spoke, my mother was in a deep anesthetic sleep at Virginia Beach General Hospital. We expected the surgery to leave her cancer-free, as the MRI a few weeks ago had seemed to promise it would. But when I returned from Assembly, at the top of my email was my father’s name in bold. Please call. Got bad news. Spread.

Gratitude means finding brightness in dark days. Gratitude means shifting your focus from what your life lacks to what you already have. Gratitude means living your life recognizing that this is all a gift. I feel so grateful to be living a full life surrounded by family and friends –old and new— who I love so much. This year, Thanksgiving became my favorite holiday, because gratitude may just be the best thing out there.