Happy Thanksgiving to those of you celebrating!

Here in Paris we have a slightly different set of November traditions!

First was the appearance of the Beaujolais Nouveau wine last week.  Beaujolais Nouveau is a light red wine that is available only for a few weeks in late November/early December. Read my blog post about Beaujolais Nouveau for a bit more info!   This year given we like the wine so much, we are going to stock up before it disappears off the shelves.

Next, I saw ads for Black Friday sales appear in the stores.  It seems that France has assimilated the American tradition of huge pre-Christmas sales the day (and weekend) after Thanksgiving (which is of course third Thursday of the month).  At least they aren’t as ubiquitous here as in the US.  The sales are very good here – for example, Monoprix has 30% off all clothing!

Galeries Lafayette is ready for Christmas! They are waiting for Santa! He only arrives Nov. 25 but his spot is ready! Fille was testing it out last week.   Also, the window displays are up and the Christmas tree is in place in the Dome of Galeries Lafayette – but (shh!) its not as nice as last year’s tree!

Lastly, today the Christmas trees have appeared at the local florist!  Last year we had a great time carrying home our US-sized Christmas tree!

I’ll be thinking of all my American friends as I eat my turkey dinner from Picard (the amazing frozen food chain).