Happy Thanksgiving Global Travelers! This year we are carrying on the tradition of having Thanksgiving at my parents’ house in western Massachusetts. This tradition began when my mother declared that you absolutely could not have rice with turkey, as we always had with my grandparents, who are native Filipinos like my father. As my mother grew up in Massachusetts, homemade mashed potatoes and gravy win out over the ‘ridiculous’ idea of rice for Thanksgiving. In my opinion, whatever brings the family together! I don’t know how she convinced a family of Filipinos to give up rice for even one day, but, regardless, my mother hosts a fabulous Thanksgiving at our house. We usually have about 13-15 family members come over for turkey – all from my father’s Filipino side. I grew up with a pretty large extended family and have always appreciated the fullness of our holiday celebrations. Whether Thanksgiving is celebrated with family, friends, big groups or small groups, with or without rice, I think it’s safe to say we all face the traditional family madness over the holidays. This year, my impulsive aunt will bring her new beau to the turkey table. This is always fun, expecially since my stern Filipino grandfather always voices his concerns to the table. As a retired surgeon of over 50 years, my grandfather, or as we call him ‘Pappy’, sees everything through medical eyes. Everything has a specific explanation with medical terms. If you are offended by what he is saying (if you can even understand through his thick accent), he won’t understand why, because, after all, what is so offensive about the truth? I grew up with this, so we always just chuckle when he makes one of his statements. A few years ago my beloved grandmother passed away in a car accident, just after my grandparents’ 50th wedding anniversary. My grandparents really had a very loving relationship. Pappy always referred to her as “baby” or “my one and only.” My grandfather is young and has a lot of life left, so I was happy when he started dating recently. Last Thanksgiving, Pappy had just returned from a couple of months in India. While there, he met some woman that he could not stop talking about. My sister’s boyfriend joined us for the holidays, and we all had the fine pleasure of sitting through an hour slide show of India on Pappy’s laptop. The pictures were beautiful, but we had to hide our smirks as every picture led back to some story about this woman he had met. The best part was that there were three copies of every picture, and with each slide he would remember more information he had forgotten to include. It eventually got to a point where my Dad had to gently cut in and say, “Save the rest for next time, Pa”. I look forward to whatever Pappy brings to the table this year! Happy Thanksgiving. -Courtney Centeno, account executive