Thanksgiving is this week, and we've invited some non-American friends to our home for an authentic American Thanksgiving. We ordered our turkey from the market (minus, I hope, necks, feet etc.!!!!!) and will pick it up tomorrow. We have no idea how much it will cost so this could be the most expensive Thanksgiving dinner we've ever cooked!!! I'll write about our Paris Thanksgiving next post.
As I write this, it's spitting something outside...a combination of rain and snow and is pretty cold, 36 degrees, and I'm listening to Rod Stewart's Christmas cd. Feels like Christmas!!
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| Can you see the snow falling on the page??? I was so excited! |
Prior to moving, everything I read talked about how late (compared to the US) French people begin preparations for Christmas (and most any other holiday). Now, I know by Halloween you begin to see Christmas decorations out in the US. I didn't know what to expect here. Well, it wasn't Halloween, but I'd say I started seeing touches of Christmas early November...sooner that I had imagined.
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| I can't wait till the lights on the streets are turned on! |
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| If you look closely, I think you can see the trees in the lights |
Here are two early shots of decorations over two streets where we live. I realize these were taken during the day so it's hard to really see.....they won't be turned on for several days. The second picture, if you look closely, is lights with small Christmas trees in the middle. I told my sister it reminded me of downtown Kansas City when they decorated the intersections with big crowns and lights (they may still do that).
While Carolyn and Dan were here, we had lunch in a little cafe as we were out and about shopping. They seated us upstairs by a window looking out to the street at a table with upholstered chairs...so comfy for eating and visiting. They had decorated the window, which was fun! You can see it was cloudy and rainy that day too!
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| It was a whimsical little window |
The malls and shopping centers are getting on board too. We've been to several in the past few days, and each has had its decorations to welcome us.
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| You can just barely see the lights on the outside of this building |
Many of the past years we have participated in the Samaritan's Purse Christmas shoebox ministry at Christmas. Several times, we got some of our "little boys" involved in the shopping and packing with the reward of a special treat following. Other times we have taken the number of boxes we have grandchildren...kind of a one in honor of each grandchild we are blessed to have (and, yes, we always chose seven!!lol). We were able to participate in something similar here in Paris. It's called Love in a Box. You have to provide your own shoebox (not so long ago that would not have been a problem for me!!!!), but this year we had to go out pre-shopping and get three boxes from retailers. Easy-peasy except the boxes are larger than what we've used before! Anyway, they give you a "must have" list then an "other ideas" list. We filled the three boxes for girls (since I never get to buy girl things), two 8-10 year-olds and one 5-7 year-old. Monoprix (similar to Target) was our shopping place of choice , and we got them all packed up and ready to take in. Oh, yea. We also had to wrap the boxes...no problem either. Most of these boxes stay in Paris, I think, but some do go outside the city. Anyway, it was just another "Christmas is coming" activity that began this holiday season for us.
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| I hope our little girls will like our choices! |
As I finish this post, it's the day before Thanksgiving. Tomorrow I'll post about our first Paris Thanksgiving. We baked our first "holiday bread" (pumpkin) today...had to make a few minor adjustments in the recipe and pans, but all in all, success. Later a slice will be perfect with a hot cup of tea.........and maybe "Miracle on 34th Street" - the first scenes are on Thanksgiving Day!!!!
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