Thanksgiving In Tijuana

Thanksgiving has long been my favorite holiday. I love that it revolves around food and family, two of my favorite things.

When I moved to Tijuana in February, I knew that there was a big possibility I would miss either Thanksgiving or Christmas with my family in Alabama. As the end of the year approached, I began to make plans to go back. Plane tickets were too expensive at Thanksgiving and at Christmas both, so I bought a ticket for earlier in December.

Since I knew I was going to miss Thanksgiving with my family I had an idea. I wanted to make a dinner for the people here in Tijuana who have become like my family. My friend David’s family has become like my own this year. We work a lot from his home and his mom fixes breakfast for us and sometimes lunch as well.

His dad is my roommate and is one of the nicest people you’d ever want to meet. He brings me food from time to time and just takes care of me like I am his son.

His sister and her husband and daughter as well as his brother and his wife and 3 kids are all amazing! They make me feel like I’m part of their family. I would do anything for them because I honestly think they feel the same way about me. And they all have went above and beyond to make me feel comfortable here, and to feel like I’m even part of their family.

Through this year I’ve gotten to know them and love them all. When I asked them if they would come to dinner they all agreed and I had started out wanting to make a turkey with dressing and pies and sides. My menu had to change as I didn’t find everything I wanted and the turkey was a little more expensive than I could afford.

So I made two chickens, a pumpkin pie, apple pie as well as some sides. David helped me do some of the cooking and preparing the place for the dinner. This dinner was important for me because it took place the day after Thanksgiving, and I had really missed being with my family on Thanksgiving. I wanted to say a few words before we ate and as I tried I began to get a little emotional and had to cut it short.

I’ve been trying to learn Spanish but I didn’t know it well enough to speak to them in Spanish so I had David translate for me. Afterward, they all came up to me and hugged me and even said, “Welcome to the family”. Then I had to excuse myself to the restroom for a minute so I wouldn’t ugly cry in front of everyone.

Why am I sharing this exactly? Because as I stated before I want to take my blog in a new direction and this is why. This family. They took me under their wing when I got here to Mexico. They made me feel so welcomed and even loved. I find this seems to be the case with many of the people here in Mexico. I feel like the Mexican people are some of the most hospitable people you will ever meet.

I can’t explain the feeling here. It actually feels like home. I don’t say that lightly because I’ve tried to find a place that feels like home for a long time. There was no place that ever seemed to fit, but Tijuana does. I think that you could ask almost anyone who lives here and was not born here that Tijuana has that special something. I think a big part of that is the people. Hopefully I’ll get going on my project where you’ll be able to start virtually meeting some of the people here soon! Stay tuned.