Five Reasons to Celebrate Thanksgiving Abroad

As some of you know, this year we decided to have ourselves a little adventure this Thanksgiving. We like to call it the Great Thanksgivingukkah, Catalonia-style.

Many people drive for hours to see their family, or brave the airports to get stuck at snow-filled connections, just to see their family for a few hours.  This is, as many like to say, par for the course.

Thus, we decided what's a few hours of flying? It was time to celebrate the holiday outside the country!!!  Close your eyes, nap for a few hours and then.....hola, Barcelona!  See how easy that was?

Now, we knew Thanksgiving outside of the U.S. would have its benefits, but in hindsight they were even greater than anticipated.  So behold, our top 5 reasons to leave the country on Thanksgiving!

1) It's the cheapest time to see Europe.  For reals.

2) If you're visiting friends, you can still have Thanksgiving dinner!  We may have been thousands of miles away from home, but we were not without our turkey and marshmallow covered sweet potatoes.

mmm .... malvaviscos rosa y blanco

3) Better wine while you eat, and no football.  You can actually converse with the other guests without having them fall asleep on you!

4) Airports are packed with people flying within the 50 states - international flights? Not so much.  You'd never know we were flying on a holiday weekend!

5) And perhaps the best part of traveling abroad on Thanksgiving: missing Black Friday!  Instead of fighting with strangers in the name of consumerism, we spent our day visiting gorgeous architecture, taking a walking tour of a new city, learning some Spanish history, drinking fabulous coffee, and learning about fun local traditions such as Caga Tio, the Catalonian Christmas log you hit with a special Christmas stick so he poops out presents and candy.  (If you think we're making this up, read more about it here).  Strange to see a culture that brings out the squatting statuettes on the holidays.

Because we like you peeps, we'll spare you the picture of Hello Kitty and her pink turd, which means you'll have to take our word for it on this one.

Caga Tios, everywhere you look.  Every home has one.

A big thank you to our hostess with the mostess

So there you have it.  If you ever get a chance to have yourself a little Thanksgiving adventure outside of the U.S., take it! And unlike this year, you won't have to worry about what to do about Chanukah either.  Though if you do, get thee some Southeast Asian cauliflower/zucchini fritters, which taste just like the real thing. You heard it here first.

A Little Boxing Day Advice

With Christmas on a Sunday this year, the whole country has Monday off as a national holiday.  Which means one thing: more people shopping day-after-Christmas sales than ever.

So in the spirit of consumerism, let us give you a little Christmas shopping advice from this New York Jew. 

Just because it's on sale, doesn't mean you should buy it.

Seems simple, yet so many people ignore this advice.  "But Poker Chick", you might say.  "40% off! When do you ever get zebra-print earmuffs this cheap.  And sheets!  Egyptian cotton sheets at 60% off! So what if they don't match anything in my bedroom, it's the bargain of 2011!  And --- oh my goodness, it's the brown and crisp! I've seen this on TV! Just think about all the money I will save not ordering in."

We know, we know.  This advice is a total buzzkill and seems especially odd coming from a woman who told you about all the wonders of Sephora.  But that's when you're looking for something specific.  It's the impulse purchase, rationalized by the word "sale" that we are convinced has something to do with the financial crisis our country is in.  See, retailers are counting on this "60% off saves me money!" mindset.   We've fallen trap to this ourselves.  And it's great when you were going to buy that anyway.  But if it wasn't on your list, just remember, you can be smarter. 

The real math is this: 40% off $100 is still $60 more than zero.

Instead of shopping, might we suggest you maybe use that day to get a jump on your New Years' Resolutions, such as catching up on your correspondence.  You can use the first note to send yours truly a thank you for saving your wallet.

Happy Boxing Day, peeps.

What You're Not Watching

Tonight kicks off the annual 24-hours of "A Christmas Story" on TBS, a Poker Chick family tradition. If you haven't seen it, you must. It is hilarious, even for members of the tribe. When you're done with that, you can check out "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels", a movie that never stops being funny. It's on some cable channel tonight.

This is the "ad"-y party where we say something legal like "check your local station for listings".

Happy Christmas.