Rain sat by herself on her sofa thumbing through a magazine. The house was quiet since her husband and Alan took the children off somewhere for some alone time. She had taken a shower and watched a bit of TV before she tried reading the magazine. But the magazine didn't hold her interest for long and she decided to go into the kitchen to fix herself a snack.
As she walked into the kitchen, she glanced at the wall calendar beside the door and stopped short. It was November and she realized that it was the fourth Thursday in November.
"Thanksgiving," she murmured.
She hadn't celebrated Thanksgiving in years, mainly because the Doctor didn't since he usually followed British traditions. But looking at the calendar, she thought back to the Thanksgiving dinners she shared with her family and suddenly had an urge to have one, both for herself and for the members of her family that had once been American. She telepathically contacted her father, sister, Grace, Julie, Juliet, Peri, Awinita, Tara, Bala, Karishma, Toby, June, Samuel, Dorothy, Madison, Rainy and Teresa and asked them if they wanted to come and help her make and eat a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. She smiled when everyone accepted and told her they'd be over as soon as they could. She searched in her larder and refrigerator and began to assemble some things while she made a list of everything she was missing. She heard a knock on the door and went through the living room. She opened it and hugged her father.
"I'm glad you thought of this, Rainshower," he said as he came inside. "I missed our Thanksgiving dinners too. Although…where's your husband?"
"He and Alan took the youngest children out for the day. That's why I thought we could do this while they were gone."
"Yes, but…shouldn't you wait till the Doctor comes back? He might want to eat with us," John said, frowning.
"Oh, we'll cook enough for them too. But you know he takes after the British and they don't celebrate Thanksgiving so I thought we'd do that while he was gone."
"Yes, but somehow, Rainshower, I don't think he'll care as long as he's celebrating it with you," John said. "Do you have everything you need?"
"Most of it. We need a turkey though and the Doctor has the TARDIS."
"Let me take our TARDIS down to Earth and I'll go get what you need while you start the meal," John said.
"Okay, I have potatoes, macaroni and cheese, corn, green beans and that's it so far."
"Gotcha, I'll be back in a minute or two then," John said, kissing her cheek.
She closed the door when she left and went back to the kitchen to resume her search for the foods they would need.
Once everyone had come over to her house and John had returned with the turkey and trimmings, the former Americans set to work fixing the food while they laughed and chatted about their memories of Thanksgiving.
"I'm so glad you thought of this," Grace said after the turkey and ham was in the oven and all of them went into the living room to relax. "I never had much fun when I had thanksgiving with my family. Half of them would get drunk and argue at the dinner table."
"Yeah, same here," Peri said, making a face. "Had an uncle that we had to invite since he was family and the man would get drunk on beer and yell while my cousins were trying to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade."
"Oh God, the parade," Awinita said. "We used to get up early and watch that until noon. We always waited for Santa Claus to show up before we ate dinner. Didn't feel like Christmas had started until we saw him."
"We used to put up our Christmas decorations Thanksgiving night," Madison said. "Unfortunately, Dorothy didn't have too many thanksgivings like that."
"Eh, I'm happier here though, Mom," Dorothy replied. "The Doctor's been a wonderful dad."
"Yup, he has," Madison said, patting her leg. "You are gonna leave some for him and Alan, especially Alan."
"Yes. And Lord help me if Alan goes without," Rain said while they laughed. "Especially since the smell of turkey is now hanging in the air. He'd be ripping the house apart looking for it if we ate the entire thing."
"We oughta do this every year though," Bala said. "Make it our own tradition."
"I agree. I miss thanksgiving dinner," Julie added.
"Feels strange that we're the only people on the planet who are celebrating it," Juliet added.
"Well, like I was telling Dad, the Doctor takes after the British so they left it out when they were deciding what holidays to make official here."
"That's a shame, you can't have too many holidays that feature ham and turkey," Awinita said while they laughed. "But…since we were doing this, I brought over my old Charlie Brown Thanksgiving DVD so we can watch that since we can't watch the Macy's parade."
"Oh good, I loved that cartoon when I was little," Grace said.
"I've never seen it," Bala said.
"Oh, you'll love it," Julie replied. "It's hilarious."
"Well," Rain said, lightly slapping her legs before she stood up, "Let's go see how far along the meat is so we can start cooking the other food.
___________
When the food was finally ready, everyone filled their plates and decided to eat at the patio tables in the backyard where Anne and Elizabeth were romping around and playing. They all went outside, food and drinks in hand and when they were finished and everyone had their cutlery, Rain closed the door to keep the insects out and they moved the tables together so everyone could sit with each other. After John said grace, they all begin to eat.
(A half hour later…)
The TARDIS materialized in the garage and the Doctor opened the door.
"Ah, home sweet home again," he sighed as he, Alan and the children stepped outside. "I believe it'll be awhile before we go to Happy Fun Village again. I'm spent."
"I wanna do something else, Daddy," Namid said.
"We will, Rainbow, just give your old dad a chance to recover, eh?"
"What the…"
He looked over at Alan who had opened the door and was standing in the doorway, breathing deeply.
"Brother, you will not believe this, I smell turkey!"
"Turkey?" Sokanon said. "Mummy fixed turkey?"
"She did? Real turkey or turkey you buy in packages like luncheon meat?" the Doctor said as everyone followed Alan inside.
They headed to the kitchen and froze when they saw the enormous amount of food on the counters and stove.
"Holy Rassilon's underwear!" Alan said as he stared at the feast. "Rainy must have been very, very bored this afternoon or very, very hungry."
"Wow!" Namid said, running to the cabinet to get a plate.
"Turkey and ham? She fixed turkey and ham together?"the Doctor said, staring at the stove. "Yeah, Brother, I think Rain overdid it a bit."
"All that and you're gonna complain?" Alan said to him.
"Not at all, let's feast!" the Doctor said, grabbing a plate from the cabinet.
But as he filled his plate, he couldn't help but wonder why Rain had cooked what amounted to a seven course meal for lunch. He started to think over all the possibilities and while he was thinking, he happened to glance over at the calendar near the door.
"Fourth Thursday in November…oooooooh…"
"What is it, Daddy?" Namid said as she scooped some mashed potatoes on her plate.
"Fourth Thursday in November, Rainbow, is Thanksgiving."
Alan's eyes widened.
"Oooooh," he said, sharing the realization with his brother.
"What's Thanksgiving?" Chaska asked.
"It's an American holiday. The pilgrims came to America and had a very rough time when they first tried to colonize the new world. When the harvest came in, they gathered with the local Indians and had a feast, giving thanks for the harvest and being able to survive the harsh conditions. British people don't celebrate it so I never gave it much thought and your mum never said she missed it so that's why we've never celebrated it."
"But…" Namid said, forlorn. "I wanna celebrate with mummy. Where is she? Why didn't she ask us? I wanna eat with her and give thanks."
Alan came back in the kitchen.
"Found her. She's outside with all the other former American family members. They're at the tables eating and chatting."
"Wait, I wanna do this too," Sokanon said, carrying her plate and cutlery out of the kitchen. "I wanna celebrate Thanksgiving with Mummy."
"Mummy, wait, we wanna do this too!" Namid said as she and Chaska followed her with their plates.
Rain was laughing at something Juliet said when she heard the patio door slide open.
"Wait for us, Mummy!" Namid said as she hurried with her brother and sister towards the table. "We wanna do this too!"
"Oh, Babies, I'm sorry. You were out with your daddy and today was Thanksgiving so I thought the people who used to be Americans would celebrate it while you were gone."
"I wanna do it too though," Namid said, sitting her plate down beside her. "I like holidays and eating and fun."
"Yeah, so do I," Alan said, coming outside with the Doctor. "Shame on you, Rainy, there's more family members than this."
"Yeah, but you guys take after the British and British people don't do this!" Rain said.
"Yes, that's true," the Doctor said. "I might take after the British but I'm not and if you wanted to do this, you could have just said something, Rain. You don't have to be American to be thankful for things."
"Well, I didn't think of it until after you were gone," Rain said as they pulled up another table. "I was going to fix lunch for myself and saw the calendar and realized what day it was and I decided on the spur of the moment to do this. We left enough food for all of you."
"Yes, but this is important to you, Rain. And what's important to you is important to me," the Doctor said as they pulled the table up beside the one she was sitting at and they all sat down.
"See, I told ya, Rainshower," John said.
"What's that?" the Doctor said to him.
"When she first mentioned this to us and told me it was just for those of us who used to be American, I told her that it wouldn't matter to you and that I thought you'd like to be here but she figured you'd have no interest in celebrating Thanksgiving," he said to him.
"Shame, my wife, you should know me better than that by now," the Doctor said, wagging his finger at her. "I like food, fun and frivolity no matter where it comes from."
"I'm sorry. And I'm sorry I upset you, my darlings," she said to the children. "I wasn't trying to be mean and keep you from celebrating with us."
"It's okay, Mummy," Sokanon said.
"What do we do though?" Namid asked.
"Just be thankful that we're all together," Rain said.
"Okay, I can do that," Namid said.
The Doctor cleared his throat.
"So I take it that you only invited those who used to be American to your little shindig," he teased with a twinkle in his eye.
"Yeah, I did," Rain said, sheepishly.
"Ought-oh, you're gonna have forty lashings with a wet noodle," Alan said as the Doctor closed his eyes and concentrated on the minds of his other family members.
ATTENTION, ALL FAMILY MEMBERS AND CLOSE FRIENDS OF THE DOCTOR! He thought loudly. I HAVE COME HOME AND FOUND THAT MY WIFE WAS CELEBRATING THANKSGIVING DINNER WITH THE FORMER AMERICAN MEMBERS OF OUR FAMILY. IF YOU DON'T GIVE A FIG THAT IT'S AN AMERICAN HOLIDAY AND ARE THANKFUL FOR AT LEAST ONE THING, GET YOUR BUTTS OVER TO MY HOUSE AND GET SOME TURKEY, HAM AND THE TRIMMINGS THAT SHE HAS MADE. OVER AND OUT!
He laughed when he felt all the shock and surprise in his mind.
WHAT? Jack thought. She's having turkey and ham and fun and didn't invite us? Oh, that's it, we're coming over!
"Excuse me, I better stand at the door and wait for the stampede," the Doctor said, getting up with his plate.
"Wet noodle time, Rain," Alan said as he cut up his slice of turkey.
Alan giggled when several minutes later, he heard his other family members coming through the door. A minute after that, Jack came outside and walked up to her.
"Hey, I'm a family member too," he said while Alan snickered. "I'm capable of being thankful about things even if I was born on another planet!"
"I'm sorry, geez," Rain said while everyone laughed and Jack patted her on the shoulder.
"No worries, I understand. We did whip up some more mashed potatoes for everyone before we came over and I think several others brought more food so we don't run out."
"Thank you," Rain said as Jack kissed her on the cheek.
"No problem, any excuse to eat your home cooked food is fine by me," Jack said before he hurried back into the house.
After all of their family and friends came over, some bearing food, all bearing well wishes and teasing Rain about not inviting them too, everyone stood around chatting and eating before Alan tapped his spoon against his glass and stood up.
"Family and dear friends, I think we've all learned a valuable lesson today. Never leave Rain alone or she'll get weird ideas floating through her noddle and start excluding us from her activities," he said while they laughed. "Now it is true that majority of us weren't born in the US but as my brother pointed out, we're all more than capable of being thankful like the pilgrims were and I think it's obvious that one thing we should be thankful for is the fact that we have a huge, loving family and a planet we can call our own. And in addition to that, we also have new family members, both two legged and four legged and I know I speak for everyone when I say that I'm glad they're here with us to celebrate this day."
Everyone vocalized their agreement with that.
"In addition, we here at the table have been listening to the colonials' reminiscences of celebrating Thanksgiving, which has been extremely fascinating and not only did Awinita bring back her Charlie Brown Thanksgiving DVD but they mentioned that they used to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade on TV and immediately the youngsters screamed that they wanted to watch it too which led us to the thought that perhaps we should take our TARDIS and go see this parade for ourselves. So everyone who wants to go see a large, grand Thanksgiving parade and have more fun, get your butts in the TARDIS immediately after eating so we can see what all the fuss is about. That's all!"
He sat back down and winked at Rain as he finished eating his meal.
"Cool!" Namid said as she stood with her family along the pavement and watched a large Spongebob balloon flying overhead.
Her and the other members of her family had opted to go see the parade. They had managed to come early enough that all of them got a good vantage point at Herald Square. They crowded in close to one another, enjoying one another's company as they watched the floats, balloons, bands and broadway performers. Then, at long last, Santa Claus appeared and all of them cheered and waved as he sat in the sleigh and reindeer float and slowly went past them.
"Cool!" Namid yelled as the Doctor chuckled and rubbed her arm.
"Now see what we could potentially miss out on if we leave Rainy to her own devices," Alan said to the Doctor as he nodded and grinned.
Rain was near the Doctor surrounded by her children. As she watched, she suddenly felt her husband's arms around her and she sighed as she leaned back into him.
"Next time you get an idea to have a celebration, ask us before you decide to exclude us, eh? Because I think we might just surprise you," he said in her ear.
"I will."
"And…I believe we'll talk to the high council and ask them to declare a day of Thanksgiving for all Gallifreyans so others can join in it too."
"Good idea."
Rain sighed as the Doctor kissed her cheek and sent love into her mind. She and her family lingered together, waiting till everyone around them dispersed before all of them headed back to the TARDIS and headed for home.
THE END.