el día de acción de gracias y janucá - el estilo de buenos aires / thanksgivukah buenos aires style

When I first realized Thanksgiving and Hanukkah (Thanksgivukah) were coinciding this year, I was a bit sad. The only time during my lifetime that this occurs also happens to be the first time in my life I am not celebrating Thanksgiving with my crazy loving large family in Rochester, New York. No turkey menorahs for me, no sweet potato latkes, no blessings over the hanukkah candles before going around the table and saying what we are thankful for. I figured I needed to at least celebrate Thanksgiving so started asking around, trying to see what American friends and acquaintances were doing to celebrate Thanksgiving. Most were either going back home to be with their family in the states or had organized activities/dinners with their programs. I was getting a bit worried about what I would do and then I asked my friend Morgan, who lives with my Spanish professor. Morgan said his friends were doing a home-cooked Thanksgiving dinner and I was welcome to come along, I didn't even have to bring anything. I was so excited, I finally had a place to celebrate Thanksgiving!

I couldn't show up completely empty handed so I went by the local chino (market) and picked up a bottle of wine (Argentine Malbec, figured adding a bit of Argentina to our celebration was a good idea) before heading over to their house. A blast of Thanksgiving aromas hit my nose when I entered the door, I couldn't contain my excitement and let them know how delicious everything smelled. Thanksgiving dinner ended up just being my friend Morgan, his friend Jess and her boyfriend Ivan, and myself. I giggled to myself when I found out Ivan, the only "porteño", Buenos Aires native, had cooked almost all of the food except dessert. The food started coming out of the oven and on to the table, plates of mashed potatoes, stuffing, biscuits, gravy, broccoli, and of course TURKEY! Pavo, turkey, is actually not common to eat here, so I was very surprised to see a whole turkey. We dug in and boy was it delicious. We even had homemade apple pie for dessert! I left the Thanksgiving dinner with a very full stomach and a huge smile on my face, the food and company made it a memorable Buenos Aires Thanksgiving!  

I had also been invited that night by my friend's Sam and Steph, a JDC multi-week fellow, to their Hanukkah party. After finishing up Thanksgiving dinner around 11:30pm (very early for Argentina), I headed over to Sam's apartment. I walked in and again the aromas hit my nose but this time, the delicious smells of Hanukkah/Chanukah/Janucá (however you want to spell it). Sam and Steph had made homemade sufganiot and latkes, yum! I had left the thanksgiving dinner thinking I would not eat for a couple days but the scents coming from the sufganiot and latkes were too hard to resist, I had to at least try them. We lit the candles to celebrate the second night of Hanukah, sang some Hanukkah tunes, and played dreidel.

I loved finding a way to celebrate Thanksgivukah my own way down here in Buenos Aires. Since I couldn't celebrate Thanksgiving and Hanukkah simultaneously, the only logical solution in my head was to go to two parties in one night! 

Happy Thanksgiving and Hanukah Sameach to all those reading! I'm thankful for this opportunity, for technology that allowed me to FaceTime with my family on Thanksgiving from thousands of miles away, and especially thankful for all my wonderful friends and family! What are YOU thankful for?