Source for this image here.
I feel I should start this post by saying that, living in England as we do, Thanksgiving is not of course a national holiday. We understand the history of Thanksgiving in countries such as America and Canada, and in fact studied the story of the Pilgrims and the first harvest as part of our homeschool curriculum one year. It was surprising to realise how little I, who was educated in a state school, unlike my husband, knew of this important aspect of American history! In England most Churches celebrate the harvest with a special festival, usually towards the end of September or in early October, to coincide with when the annual grain harvest would take place. Nowadays it is not so widely acknowledged since fewer people are Churchgoers in England than in decades past. But, coming from a farming background, our family has always celebrated the harvest, and since I have been married, we have moved this special occasion to share the date of the American feast of Thanksgiving. Therefore, we will be sharing in the celebrations across the globe tomorrow!
Here is the menu that I have planned - it is a little different to the traditional Thanksgiving menu, which is very close to what we usually have on Christmas Day. With that feast day being so close to Thanksgiving, we tend to try a few alternatives for this special day instead, without moving too far away from the usual fare.
Main Course (we rarely eat a starter or appetiser)
Harvest stuffed chicken
Roast potatoes
Mashed potatoes and swede
Crunchy cheese potatoes
Corn bread casserole
Lemony roasted broccoli
Candied sweet potatoes and parsnips
Seasoned green beans
Cranberry sauce
Gravy
Dessert
Chocolate pecan pie
Candy apple cheesecake
Plum ice cream
Pumpkin gingerbread trifle
This may seem like an awful lot of desserts for 4 people - but in fact there will be a lot more of us than that! We are sharing our Thanksgiving with some family and I am so looking forwards to it! It is going to be great to catch up with everyone and share all our news!
We will also be enjoying mulled "wine", along with other drinks and snacks, and hopefully lots of fun games. It is pouring with rain here today as I write, but hopefully tomorrow will be sunny and frosty, so a walk around the lake near our home is also planned. What a happy day it will be!
