Black Friday after Thanksgiving Day @ Tyson's Corner 感恩節隔天的黑色星期五

The day after Thanksgiving Day is the biggest shopping day in the states. Most of the shopping malls and outlets would open from midnight with "the best deal ever" on Friday. 

Crowds are everywhere, and Tyson's Corner is not excepted. Once the doors are opened, people can't wait to get in as soon as possible since the biggest deals are usually limited. It's likely they can break the security door easily when they get crazy.

Some stores may open at 3am or 4am to sell something valuable but pretty inexpensive, like Best Buy. Lots of crazy and incredible promotion would attract tons of people waiting in line for shopping something with only half of the original price right after Thanksgiving Dinner. People get crazy about it and can't help spending all night waiting outside the stores which is really freezing since many of the places would have their first snow right after Thanksgiving. In that case, you can easily imagine how cold it could be to stay outside whole night.

Well...I have to say: if you happen to know a bit about Chinese New Year, this probably remind you of something people tend to do in front of the department stores right after New Year's Eve dinner and wait for a big price of a "Lucky Bag" which might bring you to win a car.

From: 新浪新聞 http://news.sina.com.tw/article/20090114/1283108.html 

Moon Festival - Chinese Thanksgiving 中秋節

Moon Festival is also known as Mid-Autumn Festival, which is a very important date for family reunion in China. People would do as best as they can to get any obstacle out of their way to find their way back home wherever they are. Nowadays, you might feel families are no longer bonded together that tightly like old times, but when it comes to some important date like this, you can't deny there's still plenty of love between family members. :)

The pictures are about one of my best friends in Evanston making moon cakes on her own. She is my first Chinese friend, and is a sweet and lovely girl. I always enjoyed watching her making cakes and chatting with her at the same time.

Thanksgiving Dinner 感恩節晚餐

On Thanksgiving day, every meal after noon can be called "Thanksgiving Dinner". You are likely to have one meal at 2pm and another one around 5pm with different groups of family or friends. Sometimes you might be too full to move, but must be full of love. :)

A traditional Thanksgiving dinner includes a roasted turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, vegetables as you like, and pumpkin pies. To be honest, I'm not a big fan of turkeys, but the truth is to have a big turkey on the table is always delightful. :)

People used to put some stuffing inside the turkey to soak up the gravy. After it's done, take the stuffing out and enjoy it. 

Cranberry sauce is the best company for a roasted turkey. You definitely need it to complete a well-done thanksgiving dinner. 

Choose your favorite vegetables to serve with the turkey, such as green beans, mashed potatoes or sweet potatoes. 

A delicious pumpkin pie will help you come to a perfect ending of the dinner. :)

Thanksgiving 感恩節

Thanksgiving is my favorite American holiday. It's on the forth Thursday of November in the states. People get together to celebrate and be grateful for everything they have been given to. It's not about religion but appreciation.

The holiday is right before the winter comes which makes people work on it harder to seize the last moment enjoying the beautiful weather. Besides, Fall is also the season of harvest, so you can easily imagine thanksgiving is no more than endless meals. The color of Fall is about reunion and cornucopia. 秋天的顏色, 是重逢的顏色, 也是收穫的顏色...

Beautiful grandmothers, adorable little girl and the unlimited pies...