And, this year, I have to admit that I'm quite proud of myself. In the past, whenever I've cooked a large meal, I've solicited help for a good portion of the dishes. The meal I prepared last Thursday, however, involved a roasted turkey with a Brown Sugar Mustard Glaze, stuffing made from home-made bread, self-made whole-berry cranberry sauce, sweet potato casserole, stewed green beans, a green salad, pumpkin pie, and homemade mac-and-cheese for the children. Best of all, the only thing I got help with was the gravy. Can you believe it?
Everything was delicious (if I do say so myself), and we talked about the origin of Thanksgiving, and the traditions surrounding it (i.e. Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade).
But what made this Thanksgiving celebration so unique was the fact that our guests arrived with

For those of you unfamiliar with Benelux traditions (as this holiday is also widely observed in Belgium), Sinterklaas arrives on a boat (from Spain) towards the end of November with his helpers, or "Zwarte Piets". He sometimes briefly meets with the children

Not surprisingly, here in Holland, Sinterklaas is a much bigger deal than Christmas, which basically just embodies a decorated tree.
These are the Dutch traditions that our American (inspired) turkey shared in this year. Where will next year's turkey find himself?
2 comments:
Liz, we do not celebrate Thanksgiving, but couple times last weekend my thoughts went to you. I was thinking how do you celebrate overseas and I enjoyed reading your story.Its so good to have nice friends around.
I am sure the dinner was PERFECT.Well done.
We still keep the tradition of celebrating St. Claus on 6.dec. We call it S. Mikulas (Nickolas) L&G! clean their shoes evening before put them in the window and in the morning they find small presents.
Have a great week. Love V
Liz (Elise),
I enjoyed reading the story of your wonderfully combined holiday traditions. You have really come in to your own as a chef! Cooking and baking all that food (and so well) is a quite a feat and you should pat yourself on the back!
Love,
Mom
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