We celebrated Thanksgiving Day1 a few days ago in a typical way2. We prepared a big traditional3 dinner and invited both family and friends. In all there were eleven of us to enjoy the meal of turkey4, ham, potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, green beans, cranberry salad5, bread rolls6, and several kinds of pies7 (pumpkin, pecan8 and chocolate). Turkey, potatoes, corn and cranberries are all common at Thanksgiving because they were the “new world9” foods that according to tradition were part of the first Thanksgiving prepared and enjoyed by the European settlers10and Native Americans11. Pumpkin12 is also a “new world” food item.
Our daughter Kim did most of the preparation this year. We told our son Jim to bring the pies, but she did most of the rest. Our friend Mary brought a fruit salad also. She makes delicious fruit salads so we were happy when she volunteered to bring one. We had also invited two new friends, Song Bo from China and Corinna from Romania, to have the meal with us. They decided to bake a pie that morning as a kind of experiment13 and it turned out to be truly delicious14. It was a combination of pumpkin and pecan.
We all ate a lot of the delicious food and felt truly thankful115 for the friends and relatives that we could share it with. We had plenty so we sent a meal to an elderly friend16 who couldn’t come, and also we gave food to any of the people who wanted to take a few “leftovers17” home with them. As many of us say, “leftovers” are truly great to have. We have a friend in San Francisco who always prepares a “leftover” meal on the Monday after Thanksgiving for the people with whom she works. She says they look forward to it and would be terribly disappointed if she didn’t have plenty of food left for them, so she always is sure to cook extra. With our turkey “leftovers” Kim made turkey soup yesterday, which Don is looking forward to having for lunch today.
After most of the people left on Thursday, Don, Kim, Song Bo, Corinna and I played a game of dominos18 called “Mexican Train.19” Song Bo hadn’t played it before, and won, so was quite excited. Kim always likes to play a game of some sort, so that is usually a part of our Thanksgiving Day.
All in all, we had a great day and are truly thankful that we could celebrate it the way we did, with good food, family, friends and fun!!
Notes:
1. celebrated Thanksgiving Day: did something enjoyable because of a national holiday in the last Thursday of the last week of November (庆祝感恩节，十一月最后一周的星期四).
2. a typical way: an ordinary or usual way; a commonly occurring way (通常的方式).
3. traditional: in a usual way; customary from year to year (传统的).
4. turkey: a large, edible bird that is native to North America, and is usually a part of the food served at Thanksgiving dinner (火鸡，原生地为北美洲，通常感恩节的晚餐会吃火鸡).
5. cranberry salad: a salad made from red berries grown in swampy areas, and mixed along with sugar and often other fruit such as pineapple, etc. (越橘色拉，由在湿地生长的一种红色浆果加糖，通常还加其他水果如菠萝等，做成的色拉).
6. bread rolls: bread in the form of a small round or long shape (小园/长面包).
7. pie: fruit baked inside a pastry covering (馅饼，经过烘烤的水果馅面饼).
8. pecan: nuts with a thin smooth shell that grow on trees in Southern US and Central America (山核桃，其壳薄且光滑，生长于美国南部和中美洲).
9. New World: a common way to refer to North America at the time it was settled by people from Europe, and this name has persisted (新大陆，欧洲人移民北美洲时对这块土地的称呼，目前依然适用。).
10. European settlers: people from Europe who came to the New World to live and establish colonies (欧洲移民者).
11. Native Americans: commonly referred to as Indians; the people who were living in North America before the Europeans arrived (土著美洲人，又称作印第安人). These are tribes of people considered to have originated in Asia and to have migrated to North America by land and/or sea.
12. pumpkin: the usually round, orange fruit of the gourd family which is cultivated as food and was introduced to the settlers by the Indians (南瓜，一种粮食作物，是由印第安人传授给当时的移民).
13. experiment: an attempt to make or do something which has not been done before (尝试，试验).
14. delicious: tasting very good (味道好极了).
15. thankful: appreciative for what is available or prepared (感激).
16. elderly friend: older friend (年长的朋友).
17. leftovers: food from the meal that is set aside to be eaten later (剩余的食物).
18. dominos: 多米诺骨牌（游戏）
19. Mexican Train: the name of a game which is played by using dominos in a specific set of rules (墨西哥火车，一种用多米诺骨牌按照一定的规则玩的游戏).