Happy Thanksgiving to all

Out of all the things I’ve grown to love in the U.S., Thanksgiving is probably at the top of my list. It is by far my favorite holiday, and I get great joy out of hosting and cooking my “mind” off during the days prior.

What I love most about it is that it’s probably the most American event you can imagine: It is all-inclusive as it allows all of us to celebrate family, friends and love without determining if somebody "qualifies" to partake based on their religion, race or nationality. It is a true “one size fits all” holiday, if you will.

I vividly remember our first Thanksgiving in the U.S. when I hadn’t even thought of making anything. After all, we didn’t have children at the time and, since we had just moved to the area, we didn’t know many people either. Friends from Germany were visiting and one mentioned that he’d always wanted to “try a true Butterball.” That was all the cue I needed to start looking for recipes and prepare a feast!

Since then, every year Thanksgiving has grown on me more and more, and I love to put my own spin on the holiday staples. I make my mac and cheese from scratch with white wine or champagne, my green bean casserole is made with fresh beans and a blue cheese sauce, and while we don’t have mashed potatoes or a sweet potato casserole, I make a mean bowl of sweet potato mash. There’s homemade cranberry sauce (Try it, it’s so much better!), whiskey-glazed carrots and much more. For the last two years we’ve grilled our turkey, and I don’t ever want it any other way again, it’s that good!

This year we will be travelling to spend the holidays with family, and I cannot wait to see what mouthwatering delicacies we’ll get to enjoy. After all, if you throw together Jamaicans and a German, it can’t possibly turn out not yummy! So go eat that extra piece of pie, gather your friends and family, hug your loved ones tight and enjoy the time you get to spend with them. Happy Thanksgiving!

Kaffeeklatsch is written by Kat Hanson, a native of Germany and military spouse of ten years. She moved to Sierra Vista with her active-duty Army husband and two children in 2014. She previously lived in Monterey, California, Fort Stewart, Georgia, and her native Germany. Kat is a marketing consultant in the Advertising Department at the Herald/Review. For questions and comments, email katja.hanson@myheraldreview.com or call 520-515 4633.

Happy Thanksgiving, y’all.

I’ll be cooking at home and then we’ll cart everything over to mother’s. The author can keep her spin on traditional recipes. We look forward all year to those traditional recipes and have learned the hard way to keep the holidays strictly family affairs. Oven roasted non-Butterball turkey, homemade giblet gravy, homemade rolls fresh from the oven, homemade cornbread dressing, corn casserole and most definitely canned jellied cranberry sauce. Whiskey goes in a glass, not my homemade pecan and pumpkin pies.

A Conservative’s Guide to Surviving Thanksgiving Dinner
https://politibunny.wordpress.com/2017/11/18/a-conservatives-guide-to-surviving-thanksgiving-dinner/

1. Drink. Drink heavily. Drink a lot. Start drinking EARLY.

2. If you carry, be sure at some point to take your unloaded weapon out and clean it at the dinner table; hey, if these morons think you’re a crazy redneck anyway you might as well have a little fun with them.

3. Eat meat. LOTS of meat. In fact, put meat on TOP of your meat and then ask for some extra meat to eat on the side. And then when you think you’ve eaten all the meat you can … eat more meat.

4. Come prepared with at least a dozen really good Hillary Clinton jokes to tell during dessert. The more sexist, the BETTER.

5. Remind them how much more you pay for health insurance under Obamacare – at least three times.

6. PRAY before dinner and you know what, PRAY before dessert too.

7. Use traditional pronouns like ‘he’ and ‘she’ only, and make sure to put an emphasis on said pronouns in each and every conversation.

8. Carry a small bottle of air freshener with you … you never know how long it’s been since your niece or nephew who believes we are literally KILLING the planet by using too much water has taken a shower.

9. When your Liberal brother-in-law who quit his job because he didn’t want to keep funding the ‘American capitalistic war machine’ starts complaining about the fundamental problems with the Constitution, be prepared with a few various hand gestures. These include:
a) Playing the world’s smallest violin
b) ‘Blah blah blah’ open and close
c) Obligatory ‘jerk off’ motion
d) Subtle middle finger, which may take some practice.

10. Last of all, and most importantly, keep your sense of humor and stay outta jail.

All of this being said, probably the reason we don’t see more ‘survival guides’ for Conservatives during the holidays is that we’re not all a bunch of pansies who throw temper tantrums and cry when people disagree with us.

Because you know, we’re adults.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.