The Blue House of Crazy: First Thanksgiving in Changchun

The first big holiday in a new location is always the hardest. You miss your family, you haven't made your "expat" family yet and you are still settling in. Is it going to be possible to have a little bit of home in China? Things are a bit harder out here in Changchun. If we were in Shanghai, we would have already met a ton of expats, had work friends and Joel could have been home on Thanksgiving. Plus you have all the restaurants that cater to the expat crowd. We did have two dinners in Changchun we could go to but with Joel working in Harbin during the week, our Thanksgiving would have to be on Saturday again. Just like we did in Istanbul.

I was really considering skipping Thanksgiving all together. Last year we had such a lovely day with my family in Louisville. This year, I would be doing all the cooking for just the 6 of us. I don't know how to cook Thanksgiving for just 6 people. We end up with so much food leftover. Plus there was the issue with finding a turkey. I hadn't seen a single turkey or part of a turkey or anything turkey related. For the most part, I found pretty much everything else I needed. I just really didn't want to do it all.

The weekend before Thanksgiving was the CAIS Christmas Bazaar. I wasn't really looking forward to it but the kids were singing, so off we went. It was as crazy as I expected but with some Glühwein, it was slightly enjoyable. While we were there, Joel waved me over to one of the food booths. Turns out you could buy a turkey from them! So, it was decided, we would be having Thanksgiving after all.

For the most part, the cooking went better than planned. Until Joel went to pick up the Turkey. There were three hours behind. Sigh. So I turned off the oven and popped open a bottle of wine. In the end, we had a lovely day as a family.