[redwitch]

Mom was German but tried to give my father his Thanksgiving turkey no matter where we were. One tradition that was always followed was that anyone who didn't have family close by was welcome to enjoy whatever meal we had. It was usually a group of twenty plus, mostly young military and a few embassy staff, plus friends and neighbors of our resident country. Mom cooked everything. No dishes by anyone else allowed.

I remember one year, think we we were in Iran, when there was just no fowl to be had. Dad did his usual inviting of the world. Mom asked they all drop off a can of Spam the day before. She ended up with about 100 cans, which she actually sculpted to look like a turkey. The Spamkey was okay, the rest of the food was yummy and a great time was had by all.

I was always jealous of families who went to grandmother's house and had all of those wonderful traditions. It didn't dawn on me for a long time that my parents actually had traditions, they just revolved around strangers and friends rather than family.