Some Scenes from a Thanksgiving in France

{Source}

The Pilgrims didn't come to France.

So there's no Thanksgiving here. 

Unless you happen to be an American ex-pat. With a craving for pumpkin pie.
My Thanksgiving in France was a little different, but wonderful.


I worked on Thursday, spending the day telling French children that Thanksgiving is a day for family, food and thinking about all the good things that have happened in the past year. 

I'm thankful that I have a job that I enjoy, 
with students I love.

Thursday night (or rather, very early Friday morning) I Skype-ed with my extended family at my grandparents' house. Best moment? My grandpa's surprised face when my cousin put the computer in his lap. "Can she hear me? Well, isn't that the darndest thing." This is a man who doesn't even use the telephone. I can't say it enough: Skype=Magic.

I'm thankful, SO thankful, for my wonderful family. 

Their support and love are so important to me.

I'm also thankful for the technology that lets me stay 

in touch with  family and friends.

Friday, I celebrated with most of the other Americans I know and a British friend, who we introduced to Thanksgiving. Poor girl. We might have put her in a food coma. We all made so much food. It was delicious, and we piled it all on our plates. No French-style courses for us today!

I'm thankful for my friends: the old, 
whom I miss like crazy, and the new.

{Yum. Yum. Yum.}

The one thing I had to have for my Thanksgiving was pumpkin pie. But there is no canned pumpkin in France, and most of you know that I'm not much of a chef. I managed, however, to make my mom's wonderful pie crust by myself for the first time, to buy a pumpkin and to roast it up. 

I'm thankful for pumpkin pie and comfort food. 

And learning to cook.

{Hey, what's this on my shoulder?    Ahh, it's so big!
Boom-boxes are so last Thanksgiving. Pumpkins are my accessory choice }

{I think it knows what's coming. }

And it actually turned into a pie!

{Kirsty had her first pumpkin pie!}

The next day, I had my very own "Black Saturday" at IKEA with Kirsty and Brad. IKEA had almost all the crowds and none of the sales of a Black Friday. But I didn't have to get up at 3 in the morning. And I now have a cutting board!

I'm thankful that there are countries where 

the words "Black Friday" have no meaning.

I'm also thankful for the Swedish.

These are just some of the things I'm currently thankful for. What about you? Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!