Every year it happens...there is a hue and cry that Christmas is stepping on the toes of Thanksgiving or more accurately possibly that Christmas is being accelerated for profit. You know the arguments, stores are debating whether to open on Thanksgiving to get a start of "BLACK FRIDAY," by now there are signs of Christmas sales, Christmas "best gifts" selections are appearing and the public is divided...they want the sales, they need to get the best deals. On the other side of the coin, the side I am usually on, there is a desire to keep Thanksgiving for what it is a day to give thanks to God for his many blessings to us as individuals, as families, as a country. There is also a desire to keep the real meaning of Christmas in place, the birth of our Savior, God's fulfillment of His promise made to Adam and Eve, the salvation of the world.

Then there is Paris. This is a country that does not celebrate Thanksgiving, it is not that they celebrate it at some other time, like the Canadians, but they truly do not celebrate a day of Thanksgiving. Perhaps it is because they see very little to be thankful for or perhaps it is because they don't know that they should thank someone for the blessings they have. But, in any case, there is no turkey day, no pumpkin pie, no cranberry sauce, no green bean casserole, no Norman Rockwell vision of a family sitting at the table carving that big plump golden brown bird with the Eiffel Tower showing in the window in the background. So without that moment to pause and give thanks the French move directly from Armistice Day in early November to Christmas.

The Marche de Noel is already on the Champs Elysee. There are decorations up in the stores and on the streets. The little street we live on in Montmartre even has lights strung across it waiting to be turned on on Illuminations day...whenever that is. Window displays on the Champs Elysee are already showing children and adults with bright red sweaters and scarfs. We were at Disneyland Paris a couple of weeks ago and they already had Christmas decorations up. They went up the week after "All Saints Day" (the French do not celebrate Halloween, yeah right). They had even converted about 30% of Small World to be Christmas themed with Christmas carols instead of that oh too familiar Disney song...It's a Small World After All.

So is this really bothersome? We are living in a country that does not have the same holidays so we miss Thanksgiving but they don't. Are the decorations up too early or is this the right time? I don't really know. I just know I miss Thanksgiving. We will celebrate it here in Paris with our son and his family. In fact, we will have a guest from the United States here with us to help us celebrate. We will try to hold off on Christmas in our house until after that. But for the little French girls that have stolen our hearts, Christmas is coming and things should look like it. They are out shopping for a tree and we will join them, later today, in decorating their house for the Christmas holiday. Yes, we will celebrate Thanksgiving with a Christmas Tree and Rudolph and Santa and maybe the beautiful Advent Calendar that grandma is stitching as I write this post. It will seem really odd but then we are in France.

But, all that said, it is really nice to see the children get excited. It makes me realize that maybe Auntie Mame was right...We Need a Little Christmas Now. With all that has gone on over the past few months my life was kind of gloomy. Perhaps I need a little Christmas now. I was walking Emma home from school on Tuesday and we stopped and bought a little Santa figure that sort of dances using power from a small solar cell. You may have seen other versions of these figures, waving cats, dancing flowers, and so on. I know it is early but she has been looking at it almost daily for several weeks so it was time. She got it only by being very good for mommy and mommy got to decide when she was good enough.

On Wednesday, our day off from our nanny job, we went down to the Champs Elysee and walked the Marche Noel. We saw Santa, we had hot chocolate, there were even animated moose and reindeer and a Santa in a snow globe that you could have your picture taken with sitting beside him in his sleigh. We did a bit of Christmas shopping, new Christmas dresses and pajamas for the girls. We started looking at catalogs for Christmas presents for our grandsons in the US. We talked about going to the Marche Noel in Strasbourg, often celebrated as the most beautiful in Europe. So maybe I did need a little Christmas after all.

In the mean time we are looking forward to a visit from a dear friend. We are going to spend some more time sharing Paris with those we love. We will celebrate Thanksgiving in some fashion here in Paris. We may not do any real Christmas gift shopping until after that but for now...it is nice to see the city coming alive after a dreary spell of fall weather and more than anything it is great to see the excitement growing in the eyes of a very special 3 year old. It truly is beginning to look a lot like Christmas...and maybe that is a good thing.