Thanksgiving Away from Home
Hard to believe a year ago we were making Thanksgiving dinner in Mechanicsburg, a town in Central Pennsylvania near the capital, Harrisburg. This year is different. It will be just the two of us cooking a small dinner in Paris. France doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving except for the 150-200,000 some American expats scattered across the country. It is comforting to know that there is a thriving community here that is just as excited as we are for this 402 year old tradition.
We find it amusing to see posts in various expat forums and groups about where to find cranberry sauce or pumpkin pie in France. The lengths that some people will go to recreate a perfect Thanksgivings is unbelievable; one woman was considering to bike on dangerous roads out of the city to the infamous Costco. If one can only imaging how she would juggle a turkey and Thanksgiving staples like crisco and canned pumpkin pie “à vélo.”However, as you continue to scroll through the social media wheel, you can’t help but feel alone and away from loved ones… approximately 3,700 miles or 6,000 kilometers from Paris to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The endless pictures of friends and families together for the holidays on Facebook and Instagram reminds us how important it is to cherish all these little moments.
To avoid stress and extra anxiety, we decided to prepare a more atypical Thanksgiving dinner, as a way to adapt to what is available locally. We will still have usual suspects like mashed potatoes, gravy and stuffing. As you are reading this, we are prepping our veggie pot pie, pumpkin roll and pear and cranberry salad. I know many of you are in disbelief in the absence of cranberry sauce and the turkey, or any type of meat on our table. If you didn’t know, we consistently follow a plant based diet, with the exception of during the holidays and when traveling aboard. So I guess this Thanksgiving meal is not so atypical after all.
Certainly it won’t feel like a traditional Thanksgiving like years prior…and we are okay with that. There will be some elements that will still capture and recreate that holiday spirit, such as watching A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade. So often we fail to recognize the meaning of the holidays. Particularly Thanksgiving we need to be thankful of what we have: our health, our significant other, a place to live, basic necessities, etc. Especially with our situation, we are grateful for this opportunity to live in a city like Paris. Despite the major barriers like language, culture and lifestyle differences in a foreign country (we hope to dive in this topic in another post), we continuously reiterate the huge advantages we possess at this moment: the ability to travel to other cities and countries, engage in hobbies and activities that make us happy, focus on our overall well being and most importantly, take a step back and enjoy life.
Nothing will be perfect. Everything doesn’t have to be perfect. Embrace the good times. Enjoy life to the fullest. We wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving.