Joyeux Thanksgiving!

There's obviously no standard french thanksgiving greeting, so I went with that. If you disagree, I don't really care.

Hi! I had the intention of posting something much sooner after the fact, but my Parisian Thanksgiving was so lovely and lasting that I feel as though I've only just recovered. Thanks for understanding. It was an adventure for sure. Something between an elaborate scavenger hunt, a chic soiree, and a money bonfire. Seriously, draw a triangle between those three points with convex, zig-zagging lines, and you'll get a pretty good idea. I did not buy a 100 euro Turkey complete with gobbling neck and tail feathers. I did buy a 29 euro pumpkin pie. This is just to give you a general sense of how Turkey day goes down here, which is to say with great cost.

So I'm very lucky. I have a lovely/brilliant/social Canadian/Chinese/American classmate who volunteered to host a few us at her host family's home for a very close approximation of American Thanksgiving. I'm going to say that the only missing components were unlikable relatives and an early start time. We are in Paris, after all. So, I spent La Fete du dinde with a few classmates, and my host's other awesome American friend and awesome host sister...did I use awesome enough?

I fear that you'll think someone else wrote this. It all sounds a bit too upbeat to be me. But I swear, It's me! Thanksgiving has never been the most meaningful holiday on my Calendar. I don't have a large extended family, and what I know I don't necessarily like (aaaand she's back) and the Thanksgivings of my childhood were spent/are remembered as pin-balling between my mom's relatives year to year, where they demonstrated their hospitality in ways varying from having us child gremlins eat in the basement so as to avoid soiling the white carpet ranging to refusing to prepare to make a kosher Turkey for my family. In short, the alleged sense of cooperation and familial love were notably lacking.

The food also didn't do much for me. Until well in to my teens I hated all sauces: dressing, ketchup, thick soup...it was all terrible. And the dry base of thanksgiving is really only made edible by the various gravies and goos. And I think we can all agree that Turkey is just the worst. When do you ever go to a 5 star restaurant and see Turkey on the menu? Oh, what's that? Never? Right, because it's completely devoid of any redeeming culinary qualities.

So this is all to say that by the time we made our family friends' meal our annual tradition, there was little sentimental significance to be gleaned. And then college came, and I went 3000 miles away, and having no idea how home sick I'd be we all decided that I didn't need to come home for Thanksgiving. Which was no big deal. I went to the home of a family friend whom I'd never met before. And it was actually really nice. She served cornbread (my favorite!) in terracotta pots. 10 for plating. And I met new people who I liked to varying degrees and had a lovely day. And then every other year brought some entertainingly new and non traditional solution. The change and surprise became a tradition unto itself, and I'll admit it was infinitely more enjoyable than my sister criticizing what I was wearing while trying to chew through the driest poultry known to man.

And, in that way, this Thanksgiving was no different. It was an opportunity to celebrate this Parisian moment in my life and these new people that I have the opportunity to get to know and eat the classiest potluck of food my palette has ever come in contact with. In short, it was a real opportunity to give thanks. It was easy to be aware of my situation (the contrast to last year could not be more clear) and it was so...pleasant, truly delightful, to spend upwards of 7 hours with a group of people who I really only have two things in common with:

1. We're in Paris
2. We celebrate Thanksgiving

And with a holiday that can so easily be corrupted by parades and Disney and football and Walmart, how wonderful is it that I got this opportunity to acknowledge what I share with these other people. It really should be a holiday that celebrates what we have in common, and nothing makes this more clear than being so far from home. A sense of belonging is definitely something to be thankful for, and french red isn't too bad either.