Thanksgiving

When you put a lot of time and preparation into hosting a party, you sometimes create grand mental visions of how it will turn out. 'People will pour their drinks here, nibble on appetizers here,' you say to yourself as you rearrange your furniture to create new social spaces.

Rarely does reality live up to my sometimes impossible expectations when it comes to my entertaining prowess. Did people really like the food? I always second guess myself.

Thanksgiving 2009, however, was an exception. This was the third year we hosted an expat Thanksgiving on a Saturday following the American celebration and because the preceding two had been such a hit, we had high expectations for this year.

We spent at least three days preparing for the party, an absurd amount of time considering we were only responsible for the turkey and a gluten free stuffing. Still, the cleaning, shopping, decorating, ironing the linens, etc all adds up.

However, I believe Thanksgiving 2009 was worth all the fuss. Our ten guests appeared to have a great time, most of the food was eaten and the evening ended with us tracing hand turkeys and playing Taboo. I couldn't ask for much more than that.