An Impressive Thanksgiving Dinner

What is the most important thing in my mind when someone mentions the word “Thanksgiving” to me? Is it turkey, party or something that I should thankful on this particular holiday? Not one of them. Personally, “family” is much more important than any of those words. I could felt it strongly even though Thanksgiving is not my holiday, and we do not have Thanksgiving in my country. The closer the Thanksgiving was, the stronger the feeling that I missed my family, especially when I learned that Thanksgiving is a good time to have family reunion. I think a Chinese say could described what I was thinking at that moment, “People miss their families more than ever on festive occasions.” American students took off for homes one or two days earlier than the Thanksgiving arrived. Their homes and relatives are in the country, and they left early so that they could have long enough time to stay with their families. The only thing can international students could do was having classes until the last day before Thanksgiving. I have no family here, so traveling was the only option for me in the holidays. Unfortunately, I changed my plan after I looked at the schedule of homework and papers that I should turn in on the first day after Thanksgiving. School work pushed me to stay in town then.

Well, it was not that bad when I received the invitation of Thanksgiving dinner at Shelly’s house. Shelly Smith is my host family in Tucson, and I met her through the program, International Friends, which is an organization that helps international students to familiar with local customs and culture through U.S. citizens. So I think having a Thanksgiving dinner was another activity that I went through with her to help me understand Thanksgiving. The dinner was not just Shelly’s family and me, but along with a couple friends of hers. So we had a deal before that I did not have to bring food there. Her friends took care of it instead. Please forgive about my poor skills of cooking. Moreover, I do not know how to cook a Thanksgiving dinner. I knew I should not go to a friend’s house with empty hands in the United States, and it is impolite even in China. So a bottle of merlot was the best thing I could think to bring to a dinner.

It was the best Thanksgiving dinner that I had so far in the United States. The food was fantastic, and it was well prepared. The host and her friends were kind. Especially, I liked the atmosphere the most. Unlike eating at church last night, the dinner gave me the feeling of eating at home. I felt warm because they treated me as a very close friend of them. I also met my former English professor Jacob Witt at the dinner. What a small world! Well, it is normal because Shelly and he are both teaching English at The University of Arizona. It was great even though the American style family was still a little different from what a family look like in my mind.