Thankful Thanksgiving

Germany is the Wurst No. 2

Before I get started with today’s newsletter, I would like to inform you, my (few) dear readers, when you can expect to receive my wit and humor in your inbox: every other Tuesday. Yes, I’m aware that today is the day after Tuesday. Let’s all take a minute to laugh at my time management skills.

Now, let’s get back to Turkey Day. We all know Germans don’t celebrate Thanksgiving (wait, what?), but as I am not German and only live in Germany, I force my family to observe American holidays and traditions. You might be wondering if you can even buy frozen turkeys in Germany. Thankfully, Rewe usually has frozen turkeys in stock, now they just have to start carrying canned pumpkin (are you reading this, Rewe?). Besides the turkey, our Thanksgiving menu consisted of mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, dinner rolls, green beans, corn bread stuffing, cranberry sauce, gravy, pecan pie, pumpkin pie and a mixed berry pie. A smorgasbord of delicious food and good friends that I look forward to and am thankful for every year.

Aside from all the food, there are a few other things that I’d like to mention that I am thankful for this year. These items are in chronological order, in case you thought I was a monster for not listing the birth of my child first.

1.     Moving into a house. I have to admit that living in an apartment didn’t really bother me until I became pregnant with my second child. All of a sudden it dawned on me that it is indeed an inconvenience to walk up and down 60+ stairs multiple times a day. After months of threatening my husband (threats and ultimatums are my love language), we finally found a house to rent and although there are stairs inside our house, I fully appreciate walking into my house at the ground level and just staying there.

2.     Having my mom come stay with us when my daughter was born. After we found our house, a lot of things had to happen really quickly. First, we needed to move all our stuff out of our apartment and into our house; second, find a new kindergarten for my son; and third, I was due to give birth to my daughter. Thankfully, my mom was able to come and stay with us. It was a big help not only during the kindergarten acclimation phase for my son, but also when we brought our newborn baby home. It meant a lot to me to have her here, especially because she wasn’t able to visit when my son was born three years ago. Remember the COVID-19 pandemic? Great times.

3.     The birth of my daughter. In January my husband woke up one morning and told me about the dream he had that night: that I was pregnant, I had a vaginal birth after c-section, we had a girl and we named her Pia. Lo and behold, my husband should take up a side gig as a fortune teller because all of this came true. We didn’t want to know our baby’s gender during my pregnancy and as soon as it popped out and the midwife told us I had given birth to a baby girl, we both looked at each other and said, “It’s Pia!” Truly one of the most special moments of my life.

All in all, 2023 was a pretty good year with a lot to be thankful for. In the words of Larry David, it was pretty, pretty good.