Let me just start off by stating， for the record， that Thanksgiving is， far and away， my absolute favorite holiday. Last year， I got to bring my wife to America for her very first Thanksgiving and， by all accounts， I’d say she had a blast. She compared it to having a family reunion at Chinese New Year， where the locale matters far less than the feast and those attending.
　　I mean， growing up， not every thanksgiving went so swimmingly for my family. A sudden gathering of people who don’t normally spend time together during the year is bound to cause some dysfunction and dissention in the ranks. There is often a power struggle between generations over what food would and should be served.
　　My mother often points to two such instances； my grandma’s famous “Jews don’t eat gravy” speech， and the time my mom’s delicious homemade cranberry sauce was rebuffed in favor of the jellied canned kind. But for me， even those tenuous times seem laughable now， like memorable patches in the quilt work of thanksgivings past.
　　One thanksgiving， I remember our Upper West Side apartment was filled with strangers， after my mom posted flyers inviting colleagues to a pot-luck at our place， for those with no place to go. Well， in our first featured article， There’s Always Room at His Table， Scott Macaulay has the same idea， but on a much larger scale. Next， Why I Dreaded Thanksgiving More than the Turkey Did shows how stressful the holiday can be when you have multiple food allergies to deal with. And， while Joyce Wadler’s Bad Thanksgiving may have felt like rock bottom， surviving cancer certainly lifted her sprits for the following one.
　　Unfortunately， the wife and I will be staying in China this thanksgiving. But at least now we’ve both got some cherished Turkey Day memories to tide us over till next year’s festivities.让我以此郑重声明来开启本文：感恩节，毫无疑问，绝对是我最喜爱的节日。去年，我把妻子带回美国，让她度过了第一个感恩节，而根据各路意见表明，我可以说她过得非常开心。她将其比作中国新年的家庭团聚，地点远不如宴会和宾客来得重要。
　　我说的是，一路成长过来，并非每个感恩节对我家来说都过得如此美满顺利。一群年中不常团聚的人一下子聚集起来必然会引来一些混乱和意见分歧。在隔代人之间常常会就要做什么菜以及该做什么菜上演一场权力斗争的好戏。
　　我的母亲通常会指向这两个实例：我外婆最著名的“犹太人不吃肉汁”的论调，以及某次母亲的自制美味小红莓酱却因别人爱好胶状的罐头酱汁而被回绝。但于我而言，即使那些最沉闷的时光现在看起来也似乎值得一笑，那些岁月就像过往的感恩节长被褥上那些值得纪念的拼布一般。
　　有一个感恩节，我记得我们的上西区公寓挤满了陌生人，因为我母亲之前张贴了传单邀请那些没什么地方可去的同事到我们家吃百乐餐。嗯，在我们的第一篇主题文章《予陌生人的晚餐》中，斯科特·麦考利有着同样的想法，就是规模更大。第二篇，《我怕感恩节，甚于火鸡》展示了当你要留心多种过敏症时，节日会有多大压力。而在《爱·感恩》一文中，乔伊斯·瓦德勒那“最糟糕的感恩节”或许感觉像是人生谷底，但战胜癌症确实让她为日后的节日提起了精神。
　　很不走运，这个感恩节我和妻子将会留在中国。但至少现在我们都有一些值得珍藏的“火鸡日”记忆来让我们克服遗憾，直到明年节日的降临。