Rosetta: A French Thanksgiving (the conclusion)

So yesterday I ran out of cereal so I had some soup for breakfast. Now most of you know already that this is something I do, eat lunch/dinner type foods for breakfast. However, this was my first time doing it here as I was playing normal for my new roommates I have been on a strict cereal for breakfast kick (however I did have eggs for breakfast once which my roommate from the Canary Islands found just as strange as if I'd eaten soup). So I get to school and I tell Laurent that is is Thanksgiving and the first question he asks me is, "so what did you eat for breakfast." I told him honestly that I had had soup. He thought I was kidding. Even after I assured him I was serious. And finally he believed me and thought it was very strange but he relented far enough to admit that it is all in your upbringing what you find normal.

I had told the kids about peanut butter and had had my mom send me some from the United States so I could make them taste it. So I made the class some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that I cut into small bites so they could all try one. I told everyone it was a Thanksgiving present (even though it was just random that it happened on Thanksgiving). I explained that this is what school children eat for lunch, with a glass of milk of course. After everyone had tasted it, and most people liked it except for the one girl who hates jams, I boy raises his hand and announces that he is allergic to peanuts and he wants to go to the nurse. About 20 minutes later he returns to class still looking and acting a little sick but luckily it was not too serious, I totally forgot to ask if anyone had a peanut butter allergy (the teacher assured me that the kid was knew very well what peanut butter was made from and should have known better than to eat it). After that I had just enough left to let everyone in the teacher's lounge taste the sandwiches, I love when I just happen to have the perfect amount.

After class, I rushed home to clean the house for our Thanksgiving dinner. I cleaned up the living room and put some flowers on the living room table and then I started to set the dining room table for dinner. I was looking in our cupboard of things we don't use too often when I noticed we had nice china and tablecloths that we've never used. So I pulled them out and the table ended up looking great, I even put down a lace doily on the living room table and everything looked pretty fancy. Then Florie picked me up and we went to buy the 'Turkey'. Turkey is actually impossible to find here until early December because they only eat it as a Christmas food but we were able to get two smaller birds that were a pretty close approximation. Then we went back to Florie's house, cooked the birds, made some homemade cranberry sauce and backed up all the other foods (including Tiramisu) that she had already made the day before and that morning. We arrived back at my place just on time. Had some before dinner cocktails and then reheated everything and feasted. We even said what we were thankful for in full Thanksgiving tradition. There were 8 people there and I was the only one who had ever celebrated Thanksgiving before. Everyone had a great time. The cranberry sauce was a huge success and it seemed to me like some of them were planning on making it for themselves they liked it so much. After dinner we returned to the living room where we play a bit of Charades and some Taboo and everyone laughed uproariously the whole time. It was the perfect Thanksgiving and was even more special because I had not been expecting to have one this year. Florie was the sole reason it happened and she was super excited the whole time saying how this was her first time cooking for Thanksgiving and it reminded her of Christmas. I know she enjoyed it and I think a part of the reason she did it may have been for me, so I could have a Thanksgiving, which is really sweet and I deeply appreciate it. French Thanksgiving was more than I could've asked for.