A few years back my wife and I were traveling on business in Brazil over Thanksgiving. A professor my wife was working with took us and several of the students to a churrascaria for dinner on Thanksgiving. (A churrascaria is a restaurant where servers roam around the restaurant with skewers of various cooked meats, continually stopping at each table to carve off some to everyone at the table) While there I mentioned that it was the US holiday of Thanksgiving and described it to the professor and the Brazilian students in general terms: get together with family and/or friends and have a large meal together, and described the "traditional" Thanksgiving meal. I was merely trying to make conversation, and make the point that what we were doing was pretty similar to the Thanksgiving tradition. However the professor responded "I'll see what I can do" and flagged the head waiter over, and spoke to him in rapid Portuguese. The waiter responded to us "We don't have any turkey but I'll see what we can do." and disappeared into the kitchen. About 10 minutes later he emerged from the kitchen followed by a server carrying a large skewer of meat, he presented it to us with a big beaming smile saying "This is as close as we could get to turkey. It's Ostrich." It didn't taste even a little like turkey, but it was delicious.

OMG... that is so awful. I can't imagine ever inviting a guest and then not doing my best to make them comfortable. Even when welcome being around couples or a family can be difficult... a holiday just makes it all the more painful. I'm really lucky in that I have places to go on holidays. My genetic family always gets together for dinner but that is it. Nobody drinks or smokes so after dinner conversation is rather short and formal. We have talked as a family about why we are that way and think the Indians on my father's side just never had a sense of the christian holiday thing. Then I have a second family that I fell in with 25 years ago where they pack the house with people having a good time. My genetic family gatherings can be uncomfortable. My sisters are pretty so they have always had boyfriends or husbands paying them attention. Makes me feel sort of defective to be there alone. My adopted family never causes me discomfort. I get to converse with everyone and play with the kids while having a couple drinks... very healing. : ) michael

Posted by sweet_pea10 (My Page) on Sun, May 3, 09 at 15:16 "In the U.S. we don't usually have that many party hosts. Generally, a simple gift that fits the personality and tastes of each host is given, such as a plant, bottle of wine, etc. " sweet_pea10 - We also live in the U.S. and in our area, it is very common to have multiple parties given to the bride and groom. This one party has 15 couples giving the party. We have one shower given by 4 ladies, and one couples shower given by three couples. We also have the 3 relatives that will host the bridal brunch. ----------------------------------------------------------- gellchom - The $50 gift certificate was very generous! As host in the past, we have received: Basket of mums Silver coffee scoop (I use in my sugar canister and love it!) Silver ice scoop Monogrammed linen hand towels Monogrammed soaps Monogrammed napkins Flowered bud vase Candle snuffer Set of paper products Two other parties were given, but I cannot for the life of me remember what the hostess gifts were. They must not have been very memorable, or nothing was given - wish is fine. LOL As you can see from the above list, I am stumped to give something new and different. The gifts came from the same group of friends, so I cannot copy the ideas (other than the napkins - which are always a welcomed gift - if you entertain a lot.)

Well, once again, I did it! I have a tendency to shop until I drop ... all the while forgetting what I've already gotten for the kids! When the time comes to pull it all out and wrap it up, I think "oh crap, look at all this stuff I bought them!" ... :-) But you know what? I take great joy in seeing their faces. In watching them enjoy their new things ... especially when they open something they *really, really* wanted! Priceless! This year my kids got many gift certificates, and yesterday we took the kids shopping with their gift certificates. My husband told me after we got home that my stepdaughter spent one of her certificates on a birthday gift for me (my birthday's in a few days). How special is that? I'm humbled and honored!