Thanksgiving in Siberia

We decided to have our traditional Thanksgiving feast yesterday. Since it is not widely celebrated in Siberia (for historical reasons), we couldn't convince the rest of the culture to give us a four day weekend. We were pretty busy on Thursday and Friday. Instead, we humbled ourselves and celebrated it on Saturday (my apologies to the steadfast traditionalists that may stumble upon this lowly blog).

The two little ones were seemingly over their conjuctivitis (aka - pink eye) and the two older ones were busy doing Thanksgiving mazes and word searches found via the internet (to help keep mama and papa free to cook). So let me do a little comparison of Thanksgiving in Texas (our last place we called home in the states) versus Siberia:

1. Cranberry Sauce - TEXAS - go to local HEB or Wal-Mart. Buy can of cranberry sauce. Take can opener. Use it. Listen for that famous sucking sound as the jelly is slowly freed from its shell and plops onto the serving plate. At this point, it may be cut in half (lengthwise). SIBERIA - buy a litre of cranberries from the local market, usually from a "babushka" who is selling them to make some money. Boil together 2 cups water and 2 cups sugar for 5 minutes. Add 4 cups of cranberries and boil them for at least 6-8 minutes. Listen for the popping sound as the skins break apart and the flavor is released into the sauce. Let cool. Put into any size container or form and let sit in fridge for the rest of the day. Found that recipe at this link. It is really good and can be used in a coffe cake recipe a friend posted on her facebook page.

2. Mashed potatoes - I'll give you guys a break on this one. It's the same. :-)

3. Turkey - TEXAS - go to local HEB or Wal-Mart. Buy the size turkey you think your oven can fit. Get up super early in the morning and cook according to instructions. SIBERIA - go to local market. Buy the pieces of turkey you want (there are no whole turkeys). Don't get up as early. Season as you like. Cook in oven at a reasonable tempurature and keep checking it (as oven temps may vastly vary from the temp you set it at).

4. Candied Yams - TEXAS - go to local HEB or Wal-Mart. Buy the yams in a can. Take can opener. Use it. Place the yams in a cassarole dish and put slices of butter on top. Add brown sugar and marshmellows. Bake in oven. SIBERIA - yams? what are those? Buy a bunch of carrots. Boil them and mash them. Add butter on top with brown sugar someone sent to you from America because they love you (thanks Carol!). You can't get brown sugar here. Don't add marshmellows, because that would require a special trip to a not-so-near-by store on public transportation. It would also require aforethought (ha-ha). When you have two kids with conjunctivitis, it's not on the top of your list of things to think about. But I diverse. Put it in the oven for a few minutes. Taste just like the real thing, just without the marshmellows. Sorry traditionalists!

5. Stuffing - TEXAS - you know where to go. You can either get the stove top or the kind you stuff in the turkey. Follow directions and let the turkey do the work. SIBERIA - can't stuff it into pieces, so find a recipe through a friend's blog (thanks Marianna!) and follow that recipe. My husband liked it better. Go figure!

6. Pumpkin Pie - TEXAS - again - you know where to go. Pick up an already made pie crust. Get the pumpkin in a can and follow the recipe on the can, also buying those ingredients. Mix together and put into already made pie crust. Stick in oven and wait. Top with whip cream and/or ice cream. SIBERIA - go to local market and buy a pumpkin. Take home, cut in half and scoop out seeds. Cut into cubes and boil until mushy. For a pie crust made from scratch follow this recipe. For the rest of the pumpkin pie from scratch, follow this link. I made two pies and have some leftover for another one! We also checked out a link on that link for how to roast the seeds and are enjoying those. We topped ours with ice cream and it was a really smooth pie!

7. Egg Nog - TEXAS - buy as much as you want from the local store. Drink alone or mix with milk and/or other drinks. SIBERIA - just buy a couple of boxes of juice. It does not exist and this one I do not want to risk making from scratch!

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this comparison. We had a friend over today (Sunday) to help us eat leftovers. She really enjoyed the food. David has already asked if he can take turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing to school for lunch (oh, I forgot to mention the gravy my husband made! It's gone. Need to make more). It snowed yesterday and today (I guess another comparison can be made with Texas - it didn't snow there). It is supposed to drop way below freezing tomorrow, the perfect weather to start our march towards New Years. They celebrate Christmas here in January. I guess I'll have to do another comparison for that later.

We started a tradition for the Kvachenko family today. It is new for us, but not new to many. We started Advent - something I fondly remember doing with my family as a child. The kids were excited about the candles. I was excited that I found a simple song booklet on the internet to help me remember words to the Christmas hymns. Kiana and Misha love songs, so we ended up singing many.

Since we started Advent this Sunday, December 25th will be known as Jesus' birthday around here. We will bake him a cake and give him gifts. The kids are already thinking of what they want to give him and make for him. Russians do the tree, Santa Claus (Father Frost) and gift giving on New Years. We like that it is separated. We will also do that on New Years.

Praying you had a blessed Thanksgiving with your family. Praying you enjoy Jesus this season and thank him for all he has done for you! Have a blessed day!