A Thanksgiving Day Surprise

When my friend Emily came to visit, my mother sent her weighed down with things for me. Mostly practical things like scarves and sweaters since I was freezing in my piso. But she also sent a bunch of stickers she thought might be useful in my classes. Today, I was sorting through the stickers and a card slipped out of the pile. I was so excited! I had completely missed the card my parents sent until now.

Inside of the card were pressed fall leaves. I definitely cried out with joy and then proceeded to smell the beautiful fall fragrance. What a fantastic Thanksgiving surprise! Thank you Mom and Dad. <3

Following the advice of family members and friends, I have been keeping a gratitude journal for a few weeks now. It feels so wonderful to stop at the end of each day, even when the day sucks, and dwell on the good things, no matter how big or small. On particularly rough days my entries tend to include things like “I’m grateful that I have this pen to write with.” But more often than not I discover to my surprise that I have many things to list.

This year I am in a country that does not celebrate Thanksgiving, but I think it’s possible that I’ve been feeling the Thanksgiving spirit more than ever. I’ve done a little Thanksgiving activity in each of my classes—you know, hand turkeys and coloring sheets—and I’ve explained the holiday to the teachers and my roommate. Some of them recognize the holiday from American movies, but most people were surprised to learn it was not associated with Christmas (except for maybe in our minds…) and that it was not a religious holiday. I explain that although the roots of Thanksgiving have to do with celebrating a meal between the pilgrims and the Native Americans, nowadays it is much more centered on recounting our blessings, giving thanks and sharing time with family. Almost everyone has told me they wished they had such a celebration in Spain.

I wanted to list the things I am grateful for but they are too numerous to count and no blessing deserves less attention. As always, I am endlessly grateful for my family and friends. But here I am learning to be just as grateful for the smallest kind gesture from a stranger or new acquaintance. Although I will always need the support of my family and friends more than anything else, in daily life here it is the patient smile from a store clerk or the small gestures of welcome from strangers, coworkers or student that really make a difference.

As for me? I gave my roommate a Thanksgiving coloring worksheet with a little note expressing my gratitude for her and an orange Fanta (she loves Fanta). It was much less than I wanted to do, but she lit up and I think it made both of us feel great.

Happy Thanksgiving to each and every one of you!

If you are going through a rough phase in life, I urge you to look for the small blessings everywhere and find a way to express your gratitude. It will make you feel better than you can imagine.

Edit: Seriously, guys, people are amazing. I just got back from a private class session where I work with a family of four. I told them a little bit about Thanksgiving just as a matter of conversation. All of a sudden, in the middle of the hour, the parents broke into a little side conversation in Spanish. They then invited me to have lunch with them on Saturday--as they explained it, they wanted me to have a nice meal since I was missing Thanksgiving! Does that move your heart a little bit? It's making mine feel like melted butter. They also sent me home with a bag of Christmas sweets (what they call a certain type of sweets here). I am a bit nervous because we're going to speak solo en espanol (only in spanish) on Saturday, but I'm also excited for the opportunity to practice.