A French Thanksgiving

Sorry we have been a little MIA on the Blog front. We have been having too much thanksgiving fun around here (and our previous blog post got deleted with out being saved… bummer.) But, as a result, Benjin is our guest author for last week... 

My parents and brother Nathan came into town for Thanksgiving and we had a great time. On Thanksgiving day, they flew in and we made a great American/European meal. We bought some chickens instead of turkey and ate mashed potatoes, seasoned boiled carrots, baguettes, a great salad and a few other things I can’t remember. We even had a custom cheese board that Erin and I designed. It was so fun! Our four missionaries came over, Sisters Acosta and Fowler and Elders Larsen and Coltrin. We had debated whether or not we should invite them, as our apartment is not super big and we were worried about how much food we would need to make. Ultimately we decided that if we had a son or daughter on a mission in Paris, we would sincerely hope that an American family in the ward would invite him/her over for Thanksgiving, so we did. Preparation for such a large group was a multi-day process that involved several trips to the store and market by Erin and premaking several items since our oven is only slightly larger than a toaster! One of the highlights was Erin asking the potato man at the market for 4 kg of potatoes, then he only gave her 4 potatoes. She explained she needed 4 kg, and he went bonkers, "Why would you need 4 kg of potatoes!?" She eventually got them. Another highlight was going to be a delicious pumpkin pie, as my mom was going to bring some Libby's pie mix on the plane, but they confiscated it at TSA! So we had a few options, including doing a different dessert or just bailing completely. Not to be deterred, Erin wandered the streets of Paris (didn't have to go that far) until she found the perfect pumpkin, then mashed it with a mortar and pestle since we don't have a blender. She even read how that wouldn't be enough to make it really soft and creamy, so she mixed it with butternut squash, which apparently is the magic secret to getting your mashed pumpkin to be non-lumpy. It ended up being fabulous. It was accompanied by a pear galette, a berry pie and a carrot cake (made by Sister Acosta). Our plan for the chickens was to run down to the boucherie a few minutes before eating and get some hot, roasting chickens. But when we got there, there were no chickens left! Suddenly the fate of Thanksgiving was in my hands. I asked the butcher (a very nice Afghan man who speaks great English) where I could find some chickens, and he told me to about a mile up the street, turn left, and there we would find some. We didn't have a lot of time, so Nathan and I jumped on some Lime Bikes and road up the street as fast as the eBikes would take us. And sure enough, we found some chickens roasting in the window. Perfect! A Thanksgiving miracle. Not to be outdone, Gideon had made cute name cards for everyone at their place at the table. He was so happy to be involved. 

Having the missionaries over really made a difference in our celebration; it felt like a big family party. Interesting how that works, when we were trying to be kind and give service to someone, they ended up blessing us. 

The rest of the time with Papi/Jojo and Nathan was fun. We went down to the Loire Valley to see some Chateaux, Le Mans to see the racetrack (Pierce LOVED it!) and all around to explore Paris. Le Mans was super cool, there were a bunch of private racecars out on the track zooming around. We wandered down to the pits, which I don't know if it was allowed, but no one stopped us, so we stood next to all the fancy Ferraris and Alpine cars. So cool! The house we stayed at was a perfect cottage in the middle of a vineyard. The mornings were beautiful; we would wake up to see frost on the vines all around the house in front of a colorful sunrise. I highly recommend a trip to the Loire Valley. The only challenge was finding a place to eat at night; restaurants were hard to come by! But we did find a few that were delicious. 

On Sunday, we drove back to Paris by way of Versailles, where we attended church and went to look at the temple, which my parents/Nathan had not seen. We stopped in at the front gates and gardens of the chateau, but it was so freezing cold that no one wanted to stay and explore very long! 

 All in all it was a great week. We are grateful for the blessings we have, including the chance to be experiencing France, our health and our family. It is nice to be able to aim our gratitude toward the Savior as we enter the Christmas season and think about how we can demonstrate our gratitude to Him by how we live our lives. 

Love, La famille Facer