This is our third Thanksgiving (in a row) that we have celebrated outside of the US. We are in northern Greece and enjoying some cooler weather with mist. It is certainly better than the weather that was experienced where we are from in the US (western NY).
I know that some people when they are out of the US may just postpone their celebration of holidays or special days until they get back – especially when it is a holiday that is not celebrated in the country you are in. For us, we love Thanksgiving and love celebrating it. So, we continue to celebrate it no matter where we are!
The Meal
The tough part comes in finding certain ingredients to help the meal go along in the normal manner. Of course, for Thanksgiving, you have to have turkey, right? Well, what happens when the available turkeys are few and very expensive? How expensive? Try $56 for a 10.5 pound bird! So, you go for the next best thing and get a turkey fillet. Nicely priced and works very nice in a crockpot! Another ingredient that was not easy to come by was celery. I mean, how can you make stuffing without celery (we had tried it before – believe me, it did not work out too well!)? After checking multiple places, I finally found a shop with a few celery packs and we were all set.
So, we pulled off a traditional Thanksgiving meal without skipping a beat! Sure, ovens are smaller than we are used to in the US, but careful time management helped that situation to work out well. It was a great meal and we were all sufficiently stuffed (great evidence of a great meal).
Football?
Then, of course, you have the football games. Forget trying to catch “American” football on TV in most countries! But, if you travel out of the US a lot and want to catch some football games live, NFL’s Gamepass is a great way to pretend you are at home. There are some deals that come out on that from time to time, so keep your eyes peeled!
Shopping!
What about the traditional Thanksgiving/Black Friday shopping? It works out great for us! Since most deals are now available online, we are able to just grab whatever we need to order and have it shipped. To make it better, since we are 7 hours ahead of ET, we have the chance to do online shopping without getting up early or staying up late. Win-win!
In the end, Thanksgiving is simply just another holiday. But, being able to enjoy it and continue with tradition while abroad is really a fun endeavor and we are certainly doing our part to keep it alive over here. 🙂
Have you spent a holiday out of the US? Did you celebrate it or wait until your return?
We live in Athens now for 10 years , first few years did what you did tried to make it like in the states –past few years gave up — now we go to the Hilton for the day or just stay home and treat it like any other day — BUT– have I to admit we do miss the holiday as it has always been my favorite -as far as prices in Greece some are just outrageous compared to the states