?? Family

Thanksgiving is usually celebrated by getting together with lots of family, including grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. The meal is held in one family’s home, and it is common for guests to bring drinks, snacks and desserts. Because Thanksgiving is close to Christmas, families can spend one holiday with the mother’s family and the other holiday with the father’s family. University students can invite boyfriends, girlfriends or friends whose families live too far away to come home with them for the holiday.

虎虎那天還在想，感恩節(jié)大家會(huì)上哪兒聚會(huì)呢。Alison說(shuō)感恩節(jié)才不是神馬用來(lái)聚會(huì)的咧，是像咱的中秋元宵一樣的，全家團(tuán)聚在一起吃飯的家庭大集會(huì)！在餐桌上，很多時(shí)候都能看到上圖中這個(gè)長(zhǎng)得像蛋筒（是羊角吧?。┮粯拥臇|東，這個(gè)叫做“cornucopia”，是專門(mén)用來(lái)放水果的，非常有特色吧。

不過(guò)和咱喜歡吃一頓豐盛的晚餐不一樣，美國(guó)人通常是把重頭戲放在午餐的時(shí)候。下午的時(shí)候就是全家一起看看電視聊聊天，或者去家里的backyard打打橄欖球之類的家族活動(dòng)啦。嗯，這么看來(lái)感恩節(jié)那天虎虎是不是應(yīng)該和咱家C.C一起過(guò)，羞澀……

?? Food

The first image that comes to mind when people think about Thanksgiving is a big, fat turkey. Turkeys are indeed enormous; the average Thanksgiving turkey is 15 pounds, or 6.8 kilograms. (This means that people have to eat turkey sandwiches for weeks after Thanksgiving!) The meal, often held in the late afternoon, also includes mashed potatoes with gravy, bread rolls, stuffing (which can be cooked inside the turkey), cranberry sauce, sweet corn, and other seasonal vegetables like sweet potato and green beans. For dessert, pumpkin pie is most popular, although many families enjoy other kinds of pie as well, such as apple pie, pecan pie or blueberry pie.

當(dāng)然啦，一說(shuō)起感恩節(jié)，虎虎的腦中就浮現(xiàn)出一只鴕鳥(niǎo)大小的動(dòng)物（喂喂火雞不是鴕鳥(niǎo)啊?。：孟氤曰痣u啊，嘴都饞了……為嘛在咱幅員遼闊廣袤無(wú)垠美麗富饒的中華大地上找不到火雞的蹤影！不過(guò)說(shuō)起來(lái)，為什么感恩節(jié)要吃火雞呢？Alison美女告訴了俺一個(gè)簡(jiǎn)單易懂的原因：因?yàn)椤痣u多……

好吧，多么實(shí)在的回答啊……勞動(dòng)人民光榮?。ㄟ@讓虎虎不由得想起，萬(wàn)圣節(jié)感恩節(jié)都吃南瓜難道也是因?yàn)槟瞎隙嗝矗。?/p>

此外，火雞在美國(guó)還被稱為“Tom Turkey”哦，因?yàn)閾?jù)說(shuō)公火雞（嗯……雄火雞？）的名字就叫做Tom……世上千千萬(wàn)萬(wàn)的Tom啊該是為乃們高興還是悲哀呢。

?? Activities

After the meal, families relax and spend time together, sometimes watching American football games or Thanksgiving Day parades on television.
Thanksgiving is also a time to volunteer or donate your time and money to charities. As people reflect on the blessings in their lives, they are inspired to help those who may be going through difficult times. Many churches and community organizations hold free dinners where people volunteer to buy, cook and serve the food. People also organize “food drives” where canned and packaged food is donated, collected and given to those in need. Also, companies and organizations can hold charity events, where employees, friends and families can pay to attend a dinner or dance and all of the money is donated to a charity.

說(shuō)起為何感恩節(jié)的聚餐會(huì)選擇放在中午，Alison告訴虎虎說(shuō)，因?yàn)檫@時(shí)候正好是美國(guó)的football season啦，所以吃完午飯全家會(huì)坐在電視機(jī)前一起看球賽。

此外，在感恩節(jié)這天，很多教堂會(huì)組織聚會(huì)，志愿者們會(huì)準(zhǔn)備，烹飪食物，即使是那些并沒(méi)有宗教信仰的人，或者任何由于經(jīng)濟(jì)原因沒(méi)有辦法歡度感恩節(jié)的人，都可以來(lái)到教堂，和所有人濟(jì)濟(jì)一堂共度這個(gè)節(jié)日哦。如此一來(lái)“志愿者”就是非常重要的一個(gè)組成部分了。在美國(guó)，如果你說(shuō)自己沒(méi)有參加過(guò)志愿者活動(dòng)的話，人家可能會(huì)偷偷地用BS的眼神看著你說(shuō)“啊，這樣啊?！?/p>

最后要說(shuō)的就是募捐（donation）啦，雖然在平時(shí)也會(huì)有各種募捐活動(dòng)，但是感恩節(jié)這一天會(huì)格外地?zé)狒[呢。對(duì)于美國(guó)人來(lái)說(shuō)，“thanksgiving”，相較于“thanks”，它的意義更大的是在“giving”上面^^

說(shuō)了這么多，大家對(duì)感恩節(jié)有沒(méi)有一個(gè)全新的認(rèn)識(shí)呢？如果還想了解更多的話，就來(lái)參加咱的感恩節(jié)第二波活動(dòng)：外教面對(duì)面 感受地道感恩節(jié)>>