El Día de Acción de Gracias a la Española

So we’ve been in preparation for Thanksgiving for a few weeks now, knowing it would be hard to find what we needed in León. Thanks to wonderful families we had bags of stuffing, cinnamon, cranberry sauce, and molasses mailed to us. I had to make my own brown sugar mixing molasses and white sugar for the apple crisp, but it was super delish so I won’t complain. With all our little talents and supplies combined we ended up with a more than huge, more than delicious feast.

I DID attempt 4 stores in various parts of León and none of my trips left me with a whole turkey. Therefore, I gave it up and lugged home two chickens for a nice ¾ mile walk. Then I watched a few videos on carving a turkey and had a few phone calls with my mom about how to stuff my little guys etc. Overall, the chickens were beautiful. They cooked in about 2 ½ hours and served us well. And then some. They also left us with some delish stuffing tucked inside and some juice for making gravy. Done.

Chicken

Stuffing

Gravy

Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Broccoli

Salad/Ranch Dressing (!)

Jello

Deviled Eggs

Cranberry Sauce

Pumpkin Pie (s)

Ice Cream

Apple Crisp

We had a fabulous little American (+1 Canadian) crew, none of whom wore their pajamas, who brought treats and good company to our apartment. We spent some time making fun of how Spanish people speak English, though I’m sure our mistakes are JUST as bad when we speak Spanish. We also dedicated some good time to making fun of Canada, and each person’s respective state. Oh wait, I don’t think we ever did say anything bad about NY…because there is nothing bad to say . We even managed to squeeze in some conversation admitting our plan to eat with and then kill the Indians and take their land. Dear Indians, we’re sorry. Thank you for bringing the corn. And for teaching us everything we know about surviving off the land. Perhaps we could have offered you more than just your final meal.

It’s really impressive how a group of people who only met this year can make such a lovely Thanksgiving dinner. It’s about being with family and friends. It’s about being with people who are happy to share with you and be with you. It’s about being with people who are thankful. And we had nearly all of that. I’m thankful that we got to do Thanksgiving in our own little leonés way.