So first, I actually went to work - we had plans to go to a company sponsored holiday dinner, and so with nothing to actually cook, there was so real reason to stay at home. Everyone looked at me strange when I wished them a Happy Thanksgiving - but who can fault them? When was the last time you wished someone a Happy Swiss National Day (August 1st, for those who are interested)?
So after a busy day at work, I drove over to the company's "executive" dining room, where the relocation people had arranged a wonderful holiday dinner for all expats and their families, and I met up with Eric and the kids. So it was a very considerate and thoughtful event, and we actually had a great time. However, a few things came across as a bit strange:
When I got there, I hooked up with Eric only to ask: "where are the kids?" as they were no where to be seen and even not heard. It turns out they had done an incredible job of arranging games and activities for the kids in a separate wing on the same floor - which, I hear every parent out there applauding: what would be strange about that? So what was strange is that they made a separate dinner for them so they didn't even eat with us - basically having Thanksgiving without our kids...
The evening started with champagne and wine - and our company head of HR gave a quick speech to welcome us there and thank us for moving to Switzerland and promoting sharing and learning across the company, etc... this was great - except she spent most of her speech talking about the announcement the week before of headcount reductions at the company and the hard choices and the difficult times ahead, etc....
Really? At a holiday party? I guess you can't ignore it, but should it be most of your speech?
So then up next was a guy who organized the event, who explained the plan for the rest of the evening. He was the one who broke the news that we wouldn't have dinner with our kids; he also explained that they weren't going to serve turkey, but instead holiday dinner choices from Switzerland (veal stew), Portugal (fish stew), and Germany (weiners and potato salad). Now, I don't mean to be American-centric, but where is my turkey? The dinner was billed as a holiday dinner, but if you have it on Thanksgiving evening... Well, we were disappointed, but Eric later found out from a friend there that had been the year before that they had turkey and it was awful - so perhaps they learned from the previous mistake. But Thanksgiving without turkey (or some large bird) just feels a little wrong...
But the food was quite good, and the wine was plentiful (and quite nice) so the missing children and missing turkey were soon forgotten as we met new friends and shared the meal with old friends as well - just like Thanksgiving should be.
Well, we got home early (remember my birthday party: things end in Switzerland when they say they will end)and Eric and the boys watched Thunderball as they had vacation the next day, but with work the next morning I retired early and was fast asleep in short order.
The next thing I remember was being abruptly woken to the sound of screaming...
"SNOW!! SNOW!! SNOW!!!"
It was probably close to 10 pm, and Karl was screaming at the top of his lungs at our first ever snowfall since we have moved here - the boys and my first-in-our-lifetime for snowfall at our home. Eric dragged them outside in their pajamas to document the event. A white Thanksgiving - something to be quite thankful about.
So we woke up this morning to a beautiful white blanket of snow - enough to make snowballs in the backyard and coat the trees, but not enough to make it dangerous to get out and take a morning run. With the temperature at just freezing, it was just about as great as snow can be.
We spent the morning renting my skis for the season, and then after Eric and the kids dropped me off at work, they went and got the rest of our winter necessities: sleds, snow boots (those little feet grow so fast!), shell jackets for skiing... Hey Winter: the Somervilles are ready for you! However, best of all, waiting for me when I got home from work:
A turkey dinner, complete with garlic mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, gravy, and pickled red cabbage (we had to throw in a little bit of Switzerland)! It was heavenly - possibly the best turkey I have ever had. What made this also funny is that the original plan was to get a goose - but the only ones they had at the store were frozen, which Eric knew would not thaw in time for our one-day-late Thanksgiving. They did have one fresh turkey left over, but at 10 kilos was much more than we could ever eat - even if we invited over the whole block. So the butcher suggested cutting it in half - right down the middle... So we had 1/2 a turkey - maybe that was the trick that made it taste so good...
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