Thanksgiving, Expat Style

One part of moving to another country is figuring out which of your own country's holidays to celebrate, and how to do it. Of course, US Thanksgiving isn't celebrated in the UK, so although Matt didn't work, the kids still had school last Thursday and Friday.

Thursday

Our school does do a small Thanksgiving celebration for the younger kids as a celebration of other cultures. So while some American parents take their kids out of school on this holiday, we decided to celebrate with our dinner on Saturday so it wouldn't disrupt their schedule. One perk of this was that I was able to volunteer at the school for their Thanksgiving celebration (and Clara stayed home with Matt). The kids in Reception, Year 1, and Year 2 moved from room to room, doing crafts and games. (I helped with one of the crafts.) Then everyone gathered together for a turkey lunch. The kitchen staff cooked several dishes, such as turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, and gravy, with pumpkin pie and chocolate pudding for dessert. The American parents brought in dishes as well, of dressing, green bean casserole, succotash, cornbread, and more pumpkin pie. The parents and teachers got to eat with the kids. Then we cleaned up and the adults went home for a few hours. Of course, I couldn't take pictures of other people's children, so no photos for this section. I really enjoyed helping out, and Miles and Lily are still at an age where they like to be seen with me in public.

Some Americans in the UK do turkey dinner after school on the actual holiday. However, we had parent/teacher consultations scheduled. Our favorite sandwich shop does a special turkey dinner pie in the autumn, so we had ordered several of those the previous week. Matt and I ate ours in about 5 minutes right as the babysitter arrived, and then we rushed out the door to meet with the teachers. Not a very relaxing evening, but it wasn't bad.

Kind of a sad Thanksgiving table

Turkey dinner pie

Friday

I wouldn't have known it two years ago, but there actually is Black Friday in the UK (and several other countries in Europe). You can find deals online and in many stores, but it's in no way as big of a shopping day as in the US. Of course, Amazon has many deals, and we were able to find a few Christmas presents. But we weren't planning a big outside shopping trip.

Matt and I had planned to take Clara to the Leeds Christmas fair while the bigger kids were in school. But after drop off, I was so tired that I stayed home and watched television. It was lovely. That evening, Matt started to prep for our big Thanksgiving dinner.

Saturday

Last year, not only were we still getting used to our downsized kitchen and appliances, but we also had to transport loads of food, including the turkey. That greatly added to the stress of the preparation (especially for Matt, since he takes charge of 90% of the cooking). This year, we were hosting, and we have been using this kitchen long enough to be used to it. Turns out that a small kitchen and a small oven are still difficult, at least for us. We don't entertain much, but even for our family of five it would be much more convenient to have more counter space, oven space, and especially fridge space. But Matt made it work, and we had great food.

We had invited another family over that we met through the school. The mum is English and the dad is American, and one of the kids is a good friend of Lily's. They brought delicious food and wine, and the ever imporant pumpkin pie. The kids played together really well (and didn't make a big mess), which made things very happy for the adults. There were a couple of small hiccups, but overall the day was smooth.

Mixer with the enormous transformer we have to use with it

Setting the table

Putting on the finishing touches

Running out of room

Happy Thanksgiving to my (US) American friends!
    

Gigi Visit and Paris- Day 2

By morning, the ear drops and Calpol (Tylenol) had Miles feeling much better, so we headed out to see Luxembourg Gardens. We went to the metro station to purchase a three day pass for everyone, but they were having issues with the computers. We did try to get the passes, with no luck. So we decided to see the Eiffel Tower instead.

First glimpse of the day

We stopped for breakfast and had enormous omelettes and crepes

We had not prebooked tickets to go up in the tower, so we were expecting a very long wait. We were pleasantly surprised when it took less than an hour to go through the queue and ride to the second level. (There are 3 levels you can explore. The first has a restaurant, the second and third are for the views.)

The red area is the restaurant, and you can see the cars going up the side

At the end of the line

It was windy and a bit chilly, but the views were amazing.  Here are pictures of what we saw from each side.

 Then some closer shots and the kids' antics.

Miles watched a few minutes of this football game

Matt wanted to go to the third level, but the kids did not, and Anna and I were indifferent (the line for that was pretty long). So after a snack, we rode back down.

The kids all really enjoyed this landmark. Miles told us, "Visiting the Eiffel Tower has been my dream for YEARS, and I've finally done it!" I love it!

By this time, it had started to rain, so we walked back to the apartment and let the kids watch TV before dinner.

During television time, I searched the internet for nearby restaurants that had continuous service. Many restaurants may close from approximately 2-7, but since we have young children, we don't eat that late. After a nice rest, the rain had stopped and we set out to eat.

A street cage where the unruly teenagers were kept. Or a basketball court.

A random corner bistro

The restaurant we found was very small. There was a line of tiny tables pushed together along one wall. The waiter pulled one out so we could sit down, and then he trapped us in. And this was one of our favorite meals during the trip. Everything was fabulous.

I had boeuf bourguignon, and Matt had some type of sausages with mash

Creme brulee and, uh, cake? I need to keep notes.

After dinner, the kids were worn out, so it was time for them to rest up for the next day.

Gigi Visit and Paris- Day 1

When we found out that we were moving, Matt promised to take me to Paris for our 10th anniversary. Of course, we wanted to have a date night while we were there, so we invited his mom (Anna, or Gigi to the kids) to come along.

Anna arrived a couple of days before we left, and the whole family was at the tail end of some sort of bug. Well, the whole family apart from myself. I was exhausted from taking care of everyone, and terrified that I'd get sick too and cause us to miss our trip. Luckily, I did not, and after I let myself rest we were all good to go.

This was Clara's first flight in her own seat. While it's nice not to pay for a whole seat for a toddler, it's nicer not to have her on my lap.

She wanted her hair like Gigi

Once we landed, we found a taxi and set off for the Airbnb. I'll mention now that a few days before this, Miles had been talking about his ears feeling clogged. Since he hadn't mentioned any pain, I didn't think much of it, and it didn't occur to me that the flights might aggravate it. But by the end of the hour long taxi ride, he was wailing in pain. We got inside and bundled him up on the couch, then Matt and I went off in search of a pharmacy for ear drops.

This store was about a block or two away. Would've been nice for the Amsterdam trip!

Luckily there was a pharmacy close by, and we were able to get what we needed. We grabbed a few sandwiches for dinner and returned to the apartment.

Ham and cheese paninis

The apartment we stayed in was small but comfortable, and only a 10 minute walk from the Eiffel Tower.

View from the front window

View from the back bedroom

Since Miles was feeling awful, we stayed in the first night and hoped that he would feel well enough the next day so we could explore.