Thanksgiving at home – a photo story

For those not familiar maybe, Thanksgiving in the US has become a holiday to celebrate family & together-ness and personally it’s one of my personal favorite American holidays…

Our friends, Humayun & Talat have hosted us for a Thanksgiving party every year for the last 10 years and this year as we all stayed home with Covid restrictions in place in our state, it felt nostalgic and we missed our friends so much but it was also a different kind of special to make some memories with our own families at home… Here’s a little photo story of our day that I shared glimpses of in my Instagram stories.

I randomly told Anya to arrange the flowers and it ended up being so good because she realllly enjoyed the process. I guess she is her mama’s daughter hah (don’t miss the name tags). Meanwhile Bilal was deciding how to cook the turkey – ended up going in the oven. He marinated it 2 nights before that because he’s very particular about his meats being marinated really well!

*It’s funny that while I love doing tables up for holidays (remember this | this | this..) I wasn’t really planning to do much for this day but it’s amazing what flowers & candles can do*. *PS: Don’t miss that incomplete art wall in the back haha.*

And that’s it, the turkey btw came out really well (I could be biased but I think it’s the best one I have had). Besides the turkey, Bilal also made a cranberry sauce. I made mashed potatoes in the InstaPot & I made a cheesy vegetable gratin (here’s the recipe I use).

The history of Thanksgiving is controversial and I’m starting to become more mindful of that but; like one of my favorite people on IG, Ascia said, we resonate strongly to how thanksgiving has become a day to focus on gratitude since “as muslims, thankfulness is meant to be a part of our daily practice.”

For my American friends: I’d also shared two great reads on how to talk to your kids about the real history of Thanksgiving. This is an important conversation that I’m going to make it a point to fit in every year and I hope we all can do that to be respectful to the indigenous people in whatever way is age-appropriate for your kids. // this via Motherly Mag & this via Parents Together //

Lots of love, Nataliya