One of my good friends here in Paris just did a segment for her station back in Charlotte, about fall traditions here in Paris....and how there are none. SOOO TRUE!! We are in the middle of fall here and Paris has the big lighting for Christmas this week. WHAT!!! We thought the US promoted Christmas early. My rule of thumb was always after Thanksgiving, at least, possibly even December 1st. Well here there is nothing to celebrate in the fall so why not go right to Christmas. There is no Halloween and no Thanksgiving (and why would there be). So we celebrated all the fall holidays on our own (and with every other US expat in Paris)

We started by visiting a great farm right on the out skirts of Paris, Gally Farm. We borrowed a car from a friend and headed out. It had everything you can imagine. There were pumpkins, apples, every kind vegetable and flowers. The list can go on. It was really great, it reminded us of our home, Hunterdon county, where there are farms like this everywhere. It also reminded us of home because everywhere we turned people were speaking english. There were expats trying to keep some fall traditions going just like us. We ran into so many people we knew.

We started with the pumpkins. Unfortunately the pumpkin picking consisted of picking your pumpkin out of a pile, but we didn't care. We then went on to the apples. There were rows and rows of different kinds of apple trees and Keith made sure he tasted every kind. We picked enough apples to have for weeks to come and apple pies to be made. Then it was onto the carrots and flowers and strawberries. I had never picked carrots before and because all the shovels were taken we were only able to pick little ones, even with that it is a pretty dirty job. Then came the fresh flowers (which were my favorite) and then the strawberries. It was such a fun filled day, it felt sooo good. The kids were just soo happy.

The picture I posted on FB, love this one.

Peyton enjoying an old fashioned see saw.

Then came Toussaint Holiday in France, which is also know as All Saints. The French schools are off two weeks every year for this holiday, thankfully the international school Lance and Peyton attend only have a week off. So like everyone else we planned a small get away. We decided to go to Prague. It is somewhere I alway wanted to go since my days working for Foster Wheeler when one of my fellow colleagues went for an audit and loved it. We stayed in a Marriott, which is always so refreshing to stay at, and the rooms were so big (in comparison to a european hotel), not to mention the pool for the kids. Of course we thought the people in the hotel were going to call the police on us one night when our daughter woke up with night terrors. If any of you have ever had a child with night terrors (Lance never had them), they are the scariest thing. We got thru with out any cops at our door and even with the lack of sleep we had a great time. I have to say Prague lived up to everything I thought. It was AWESOME!! We had a great time just exploring the streets in old town, climbing the steps of cathedral in the Prague castle, drinking good beer and just hanging out. It was very clean, very friendly, everyone spoke english with no problem and we lucked out and had awesome weather. Oh yeah, gothic architecture is one of my favorites so I especially loved it. I would recommend it to anyone! Keith and I both agreed that we will be back we liked it soo much. (Sorry there are so many pictures)

Famous astronomical clock.  you just can't help but stare at it.  On the hour there is entertainment. — Famous astronomical clock. you just can't help but stare at it. On the hour there is entertainment.

There was a TGIF...don't worry we didn't go.

Waiting for the change of guards at the castle.

Keith got his favorite thing...bratwurst.

We got back from Prague and it was time to celebrate Halloween but wait ....they don't celebrate Halloween in France. We were told that they have tried to get it going but it just didn't take. The kids had a great Halloween party in school before the holiday, and Lance's friend also had a halloween birthday party so the kids got to dress up a few times. They weren't totally deprived, but we still thought of alternatives. The only thing to do was to bring the kids to Paris Disney, where they were decorated for Halloween and having a big party. It was fun, not the same as trick or treating in downtown Clinton, but I have to say nothing beats trick or treating in downtown Clinton. They didn't have trick or treating at Disney but we still had a good time. I think next year we will head to London where they do trick or treating. I am happy we didn't have a ton of candy in the house but as a person who just loves Halloween I missed it. I did learn a good lesson from the kids school. They sent out a background on what Halloween was all about. To be honest I don't think I ever knew this. It is a good lesson and I had to share it with you.

What is Halloween?

The history of Halloween can be traced back 2,000 years. It was during these ancient times in Europe that the Celts celebrated the beginning of winter on the evening of October 31. November 1 was the first day of their new year and it also marked the first day of winter. They believed that death was strongly linked to the long and bitter winter. The Celts thought that during the winter the dead and the living existed simultaneously because it was on this day that the dead roamed the earth. Samhain was the name they gave to their celebration of the dead on the evening of October 31.

However, when Christians began to gain authority in the 800s, the history of Halloween was forever changed: November 1 became known as All Saints Day or All-Hallows. It is believed that the Christians slightly altered the holiday into a church related celebration, honoring deceased saints. Not unlike Celtic tradition though, the Christians too honored the dead on this day. The evening of October 31 soon became known as All-Hallows Eve and was eventually changed to Halloween.

Pretty good lesson!

Oh yeah and we finally got around to carving our pumpkins and making some great apple pie.

Next up is Thanksgiving and we are looking forward to some family coming in for it. I ordered a cooked turkey from a local butcher. If you are wondering why, it is because the ovens here will not fit a turkey in it. I will let you know how that works out with the butcher. Keith will be working that day (although I think he will take off) and the kids will be in school but the celebration will start in the afternoon. Not sure how we are going to watch the parade but we will try.

Besides that we are just looking forward to some fun parties and impromtu traveling coming up in the next few weeks.

Thanks for reading.

Miss all of you!

As always Life is good ...in Paris.

Alicia