Christmas 1976 - Part 1 of 2 (Teaneck, NJ, Dec 1976)

This was our first Christmas in our own house (we can't really remember whether we had Christmas trees in our apartments before that, we probably did, at least tiny ones).

I'm cutting off the bottom on our front porch in Teaneck. This is a few months after we bought that house.


Elizabeth used to bake up a load of really delicious soda breads (or maybe these were her pumpkin breads) every Christmas.





And finally, the bow (no red cardinal yet).

Turkey for Thanksgiving (Istanbul, Turkey, Nov 1991)

As I've mentioned in a post earlier this month, we went to Istanbul over Thanksgiving week in 1991. On Thanksgiving Day itself, we went to the Sheraton and had a Thanksgiving dinner, sort-of, that was being served for homesick Americans I guess.

I can see from our photos from the trip that we also visited a cemetery on Thanksgiving Day. This image has stuck in mind since then:



We also visited a large synagogue in central Istanbul that day; I imagined my ancestors having been there. It is the synagogue that had a terrorist massacre in 1987, so getting in the door was no small matter.


Some more pictures from our trip to Istanbul:

Dave took this incredible and sad photo of a gypsy with his bear. There was a real mystery with this. After Dave snapped the picture, the gypsy came to me for money. He had some amount, maybe $5 in Turkish Lira, written on the pan you see in his hand. I offered him instead about $1. That was a large amount of money in Turkey in 1991--a taxi across town cost like 37 cents, and the cab drivers were almost running you over to try to get you in the cab. Anyway, the guy walked away rather than take my $1 equivalent. He'd already done the work, it was $1 or nothing, he picked nothing. It made no sense--was it pride? market support? Years later Martin solved the mystery. The gentleman was offering to do MORE--like maybe have the bear dance. We were negotiating over the price of something in the future, not something already consumed.

Thanksgiving 2003-4 (NY and Chappaqua, NY, Nov 2003 and Nov 2004)

Elizabeth and I went to NYC for Thanksgiving 2003 and 2004.

In 2003, we rented a small row house on Atlantic Ave. in Brooklyn for the holidays, and to go to Betty & George's 50th Anniversary Celebration. Dave came up from Atlanta. Dora, who was living just a few blocks away, made the amazing turkey. It was especially wonderful because Diana, Dora's Jamaican roommate, helped with the spices.






We later met Cliff & Joyce, and Evelyn to take in a movie and dinner.


In 2004, we went to Chappaqua and Allison met Paul and Susan at around Thanksgiving. I think the first picture was at Allison's sister's house, also in Westchester, where we had Thanksgiving dinner with Allison's family.

Thanksgiving 2000-2002 (Brookline, MA and Miami Beach, FL, Nov 2000, Nov 2001 and Nov 2002)

In 2000, Dora brought her freshman roommate Nui home for Thanksgiving. Nui was from Hawaii, so wasn't celebrating with her family. (Ignore the incorrect date printed on the photos.)





Same place, but a year later, right after 9-11. Josep is a computer scientist who was visiting my lab during that eventful year. He an his wife, Laura, had always seen American Thanksgivings on TV, and wanted to see one for real, so were thrilled to be invited.


By 2002 we had move to Miami Beach, and celebrated at The Murano. Tried to get our minds around a hot Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving With Paul and Susan (Chappaqua, NY and Woodbridge, CT, mid 1980s)

I have no recollection of this guy, but somehow he's both in Woodbridge, and at Paul & Susan's table at Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving 1997 (West Henrietta, NY, Nov 1997)

Elizabeth, Dora and I visited my parents in Rochester for Thanksgiving, 1997, a year before my mother died. This was the last time I can remember her being herself, she sank pretty fast after that.