Turkey Day, French Style

Thanksgiving. Thanks-giving. Giving thanks. While the intended purpose of this day is seemingly very obvious, I’ve never really made an event of saying what I’m thankful for. Sure, my family has always gathered and been very grateful for the great time and great food we share, but we’ve never had the Norman Rockwell image of gathering in a circle around the steaming turkey to say our respective thanks. In an attempt to make this year’s Thanksgiving as authentic and traditional as possible, we decided to enact this fabled tradition, and what came out of it was thoroughly unexpected and more meaningful that I could have anticipated.

From day one, the American assistants were all determined to take the Thanksgiving holiday international and show the world how we did it. The basics were all covered. Turkey, check. Potatoes, both mashed and sweet, check. Stuffing, check. Pumpkin and other pies, check. We also encouraged all guests, including our various international friends, to bring a favorite dish from their Thanksgiving meals or from their home countries, so needless to say the food was aplenty. Between the second (or in my case, third) helpings of main dishes and the unveiling of the desserts, we decided to have our Norman Rockwell moment. So around the living room we gathered, and each person in turn said something they were thankful for. There were the traditional thanks to the hosts of the party and to the Americans for inviting everyone and introducing them to one of our traditions, but hearing some of the things that people chose to be their point of thanks was truly refreshing. One person gave thanks for there still being people as welcoming and open as all those in present company that made the evening possible, while another gave thanks for the sheer diversity that was able to assemble (in addition to the list of nationalities mentioned in my previous post, we added Bulgarian, Greek, Jamaican, and Algerian to the mix). Still another thanked not only those present, but his family back home that made it possible for him to be in France for the semester. One person even gave thanks for simply being alive to enjoy an evening like that, having just recently lost a close friend.

Hearing things that were at once so honest and so simple gave me a newfound sense of appreciation for the Thanksgiving holiday. And ironically enough, it was due in large part to being away from everything that I am usually thankful for that helped me realize this.

As for myself, I was thankful not only for everyone here that made this Thanksgiving-away-from-home possible, but for the fact that we all will walk away from our experience here with friends scattered across the globe, willing to welcome us if ever we’re in the neighborhood.

1/2 of our Thanksgiving spread. The appetizers and desserts took up their own tables.