Thanksgiving in Telavi

Emma offered to let us have Thanksgiving dinner at her flat on Giorgoba, which was the day after Thanksgiving this year.  The non-Americans on the guest list outnumbered the Americans, which was fun.  Everyone cobbled together some sort of Thanksgiving dish from what they had available.  Kelsey volunteered to bring the turkey, which conjured up  images of Kelsey chasing the bird around her yard with a giant knife.  The Irish people were in charge of the mashed potatoes, of course.

I bought half a pumpkin for pie, but I’d never actually used raw pumpkin before, so I didn’t realize it would make so very much.  Three pies, with enough filling left over for pancakes.  My first ever batch of eggnog from scratch turned out pretty well.  I tried to make mac and cheese, but the cheese was all wrong and the milk was too thick to be absorbed properly.  It was still pretty tasty but nothing like my mother-in-law’s.

There was so much food, and all of it slightly improvised with Georgian ingredients.  Emma made a pecan pie with no pecans.  Amy made a green salad without any lettuce.  Shawn just brought lots and lots of wine that his host family made.

We all stuffed ourselves while listening to Christmas carols.  After, we played charades.  Since we’d all had so much practice trying to communicate with host families, market clerks, marshrutka drivers, and everyone else in this country, we were all pretty fabulous at it. 

It was the best American Thanksgiving the South Africans, Canadians, Irish, Georgians, and Brits had ever had!

It was Benjami's first and best Thanksgiving!