Unlike Christmas, whose shop ‘til you drop frenzy and out-of-control consumerism the Chinese have embraced as they would a long lost uncle bearing gifts, Thanksgiving is relatively unknown and uncelebrated here. Of the various holidays of the Holiday Season, this is the only one that is specifically American, unfamiliar not only to Chinese people but to many other non-Americans as well. For this reason, when I first came to Nanjing last year, I didn’t really think I'd be doing much on this day. However, after being informed that a local foreign restaurant was selling tickets for its annual Thanksgiving buffet, my plans changed. In truth, I wasn’t expecting much, but Swede & Kraut, owned appropriately enough by a Swede and a German, did in fact put out an impressive spread of food. Turkey, potatoes, carrots, green beans, gravy, thick pumpkin soup, breads, salads, desserts all were there on serving tables, adding to the flavor of the occasion. And to top it all off, much to my bemused amusement, there was even someone who backed up the line for a minute or two while leaning over the hot tray and picking around for just the right piece of white meat. I had had a good time, not beginning to feel a little strange until I had stopped eating and began to hear the foreign languages and accents coming from the diners around me and thought about the fact that this was my first Thanksgiving away from my family-way, way away from my family. Mentioning this to my friend and colleague from Houston, who had joined me that evening, he seemed to understand, maybe feeling a little of the same sensation. Having eaten our fill, we left shortly afterwards, satisfied with the meal-he to make a call home and I to doze off in front of the TV. I can’t say that I never would have foreseen being back at Swede & Kraut for Thanksgiving this year if I had considered it last year, it just never occurred to me to do so. Yet there I was this past Thursday evening, with a couple of dining companions that had not been with me the year before, standing with plates and silverware in our hands, waiting patiently as a fifty-something lady in front of us picked up each piece of dark meat in the tray to show and comment on to her husband…and then switched places with him so that he could give the offerings his own, closer examination. Finally getting our food, the three of us sat down to eat. One of my friends, a colleague from Iowa, compared notes with me on how we had each spent past Thanksgivings when back home. Surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly given the size and diversity of the United States, we found that there were quite a few differences. The other one, a Chinese student at our university curious about the day and its traditions, seemed to really enjoy the meal and the conversation. This made me glad. After all, what is Thanksgiving but a day to gather together with family and friends and enjoy: the food, the company, the conversation, whatever. Although I was again about as far away from my family’s celebration as I could be, and the closest that Swede & Kraut could come to it was a broad, if very tasty, approximation using the tangible, it was the people I was with, both this year and last, who brought everything a little closer to the mark using the intangible. Walking down Nan Xiucun towards the bus stop at Shanghai Lu, our Chinese friend sounded a little puzzled when he said that he could feel everything he’d just eaten settling heavily in his stomach. But it was an enjoyable sort of puzzled, as it should be. There were no beggars on that side street as we went. There usually are. If we had passed any, I would have happily given them some money.