Thanksgivukkah in London

Makeshift Thanksgivvukah Meal

It's bound to be a good night when your guests are assigned pre-arrival homework, no?

For the past seven years I have been in the UK for Thanksgiving.  I've spent some travelling, most at work, I've even occasionally chosen to celebrate the Saturday following when I had time to cook. But never ever have I had anyone round on the actual day.  This year however was an exception because it was the first in about...well a lot...of years that Thanksgiving and Hanukkah overlapped.

Such excitement! Such food possibilities! Such amazing plays on words! (Someone really needs to add Menurkey into the Merriam-Webster Dictionary).  So when it came time to decide what to do, I figured I'd invite just a few of my favourites around for an informal Thansgivukkah celebration.

I had four people joining me that night.  None are American.  Two are Jewish but well, of the less religious variety like me.  I figured I'd need to prep them somewhat for what was in store.  Hence the homework which consisted of a very scholarly article on the two holidays.  And a high-brow video of Hanukkah, the festival of lights.

Now considering I was working that day to bring home the proverbial bacon, I'd positioned it with my friends as an informal snackaroo fest as I'd not have time to get down and dirty sticking my hands into the nether regions of a turkey and making a proper full-on dinner.

So what could I do that screamed Thanksgiving? Hanukkah? Thanksgivukkah!? Well, on hand were two types of home made potato latkes, regular potato and a sweet potato variety. Thanksgiving represented herself in the magnificent form of a spiced chocolate pecan pie with cream cheese crust I'd made at 5 am that morning.  Add to the mix bucket loads of red wine and snacks galore, friends did not go home hungry.  In fact, the only things they left with were full bellies and doggy bags of leftovers.  Which is, in fact - quite like the real holidays anyway.