Life & English: “Thanksgiving in Rock Island”

Thanksgiving day is a national holiday celebrated in the United States, Canada and many countries. It was originally celebrated as a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year. Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States and on the second Monday of October in Canada. Although Thanksgiving has historical roots in religious and cultural traditions, it has long been celebrated as a secular holiday as well. It is the big holiday for almost people and their families in United States.

Thanksgiving foods

Thanksgiving 2016 was a special holiday for me because it was my first Thanksging day in US. In the Thanksgiving day 2016, a friend invited me to visit her family in Rock Island. Located on the Mississippi River, Rock Island is one of the Quad Cities, along with neighboring Moline, East Moline, and the Iowa cities - Davenport and Bettendorf. The Quad Cities has a population of about 380,000. Rock Island is a beautiful city. There's a wide variety of housing available in Rock Island including historic homes, new downtown condos, new construction in the heart of the city, and wooded retreats. The Rock Island-Milan School District, Rockridge School District (southwest portion of city) along with private schools, serve the city. The District (Downtown Rock Island) has art galleries and theaters, nightclubs and coffee shops, and restaurants of all flavors. Golf courses, parks, a casino, botanical center, marina, historic tours, bike paths, and festivals offer entertainment opportunities. In the last year, 2015, Rock Island was ranked the 32nd "Best Small City" in the country based on economic health, affordability, and quality of life.

Mississippi river in the early morning

My friend’s family is very big family and very nice. Her mother is 85 years old. My friend has six brothers, one sister; and they have sons, daughters, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, grand-sons, grand-daughters. Their Thanksgiving party was organized in her brothers’s large house. It was a buffet party with many foods. All foods were handmade. Every little family of the large family made their special foods then brough these foods to this party. The host’s main food was a big turkey. As usual, turkey was the special main food in Thanksgiving. The host, my friend’s brother, was a teacher of Chicago University and is an owner of IT company now. He was a very nice host and his turkey was so tasty. This was great Thanksgiving party with warm familial affection. It was a happy Thanksgiving day for me.

Quy Minh