The Joy of Thanksmas!

At the end of November every year, people around the world look forward to the holiday season, but this year we added one more celebration to the mix - THANKSMAS!! Officially, Thanksmas is the celebration of Thanksgiving and Christmas together. The date for Thanksmas is between the last Thursday of November, and the second weekend of December (mostly due to our diaries, and Christmas party obligations).

As an Anglo-American couple, the creation of this holiday came about in celebration of us finally getting to spend our first festive season in the same country. It means a lot to us to be able to enjoy the festive season together, and we both wanted to celebrate the things we are thankful for. It was also a great way of introducing our British friends to some classic American Thanksgiving fare. Bringing the traditions of British Christmas (crackers and all) to the food of American Thanksgiving!

Modelling the Christmas Apron

For us, the day started early, as we had to prepare no less than 10 dishes for the main course, 3 separate elements for dessert, and 2 Thanksmas - themed treats. On top of that, we also had to make the whole flat presentable - a job in itself! Laura donned her (amazing) Christmas apron, and Sarah got on her cleaning gloves, and we set about working our magic!

 Our guests all arrived, just a little bit late, and finally the fun started. Rather than making people wait, we went straight into the main course (once everyone was seated and had a drink!). The conveyor belt of delicious dishes was met to a serenading of oohs and aahs, and amazement at the amount of food Americans eat, as Sarah delivered it to the table. Laura's grand entrance was complete with turkey (lovingly named Spencer) in hand. No sooner had the food touched the table, it was on plates and in mouths! The menu was as follows:

Main Course-

• Spencer the turkey, in all his glory, donned in bacon
• Candied yams (sweet potato) - which Sarah thought was called 'candid yams' - like we caught them by surprise or something!!
• Roasted vegetables, including parsnips, carrots, and potatoes (made by Sarah, Queen of Potatoes (allegedly) see HERE!)
• Green bean casserole
• Cheesy Cauliflower
• Cornbread - nobody had ever heard of this, but a few took some home, so it got a better reception than when Sarah tried it the first time!!
• Stuffing
• Gravy

Dessert-

• White chocolate mojito cheesecake (YUM! Look out for the recipe in tomorrow's Tips & Recipes from an Un-Domestic Goddess)
• Served in awesome chocolate bowls

Thanksmas-Themed Treats-

• Christmas tree shaped sugar cookies
• Teatime treat turkeys - don't you want some?

As an anyone who has had a Thanksgiving dinner knows, there must be at least an hour's gap between dinner and dessert, so we took this opportunity to introduce our favourite game to our friends - Apples to Apples. If you haven't played it, it's a word association game, and a great way for everyone to get to know each other, share stories and have a good laugh! Especially if you have guests with warped senses of humour - like we did! 

We also had our first Thanksmas photo shoot towards the end of the night (after a few glasses of wine) to record the occasion for our blog, commemorate our first annual Thanksmas dinner! (Everyone knows Americans love photo shoots, after all!)

Who knew that British people would love candied yams SO much?! Laura thought it would be judged because it was made with marshmallows (how American!) but it was the first dish to be emptied and requests were made for the recipe! The second favourite dish was the green bean casserole, a traditional Thanksgiving staple, but with a twist! The recipes for both are upcoming in Tips & Recipes this month.

The gang!

We loved having everyone over to see our flat, and to introduce them to new foods and customs. It was the first party we have thrown together, and by all accounts was a massive success. It was well worth all the work that went into it, and made us truly thankful for the great friends we have in this country. Laura even got told she should go on Come Dine With Me and gained the title of Pete's Favourite American (beating Kelly Rowland into second place)!

PS. Proof we aren't making all this up! ;)

Thank you to all our lovely friends for coming, and making the night unforgettable! We will certainly make this an annual celebration!

The couple that cooks together, stays together!! Bring on the Christmas dinner (we fear ye not!)

Love always, Laura & Sarah xo