Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving!!!  Yes, there is Thanksgiving in France (only when Americans live there).  And yes, we (the au pairs) did have a traditional Thanksgiving.  We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie, etc (I made the turkey, a rice & squash mix, and a french silk pie...ironic?).  And thanks to my computer, we even had the Macy's Day Parade and football!  I honestly think that we had the best Thanksgiving Europe has ever seen.

The turkey.  This was a bit of a problem.  No grocery store had turkey prior to Thanksgiving.  The butcher shop could order it for me.  -FYI, turkey is "dinde" (Dond...with your nose)-  This led to a lot of confusion because I can't say that word.  But anyway...the turkey was going to cost about 100 euros ($150) for the cheap small one.  I could have gotten something in the vicinity of $300.  The butcher said it would be good, though.  Let me think about this...I could get a turkey that I'll probably overcook or go on a vacation.  After turning him down, I hoped that Migros (Switzerland's Wal-Mart) would have a turkey on Thanksgiving.  They did!  For 55 euros ($80)!  Pass again.  Instead, I just got some drumsticks and thighs and pieced together a turkey.  It was great!!!  And cheap.

See...turkey

So Thanksgiving was a complete success.  Actually, Thanksgiving had no rain here...the first day in about 3 weeks.  If you're curious, the Europeans here do know of Thanksgiving.  But its a vague knowledge.  Kind of like Americans knowing there is a Ramadan.  We know it exists, but not much else.

The feast!

And now that that's all done...we move on to Christmas season!  My FAVORITE time of year!  Thankfully, all the towns here have lights up waiting to be turned on.  We (the au pairs) might be going to Strasbourg (they claim they are Europe's Christmas Capital) for some Christmas markets.

I've been showing the boys American Christmas Classics (Rudolph, Frosty, Charlie Brown, etc).  They are thoroughly intrigued.  Macsen says that he doesn't believe in Santa...sorry, Father Christmas.  But some of the questions he asks me leads me to believe otherwise.  Its rather cute.  I'm also trying to have them listen to Christmas music.  The said that they normally don't listen to any!  The lack of Christmas spirit here is absolutely depressing.  I'm glad that my family's given me such a burning spirit that can't be extinguished even in these harsh environments!

Happy Holidays everyone!