PARIS, December 2, 2019 --Shopping for groceries in Monoprix the Wednesday before Thanksgiving in France makes me feel really guilty. What is Thanksgiving without watching multiple verbal brawls in Fairway on the Upper West Side of New York?

I miss hearing things like, “F%$! you, lady, and Happy Thanksgiving to you!”

I have been celebrating Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving Day for the last few years in Paris.

This is the one dinner non-Americans in France love to attend. Even the Brits!!

I order my Turkey from the Boucherie and they cook it for me!! The gravy too! Small ovens in Paris.

I make all the side dishes but I do cheat a little. I know I can make my own cornbread (for my sausage cornbread stuffing) but having that Jiffy box on the counter reminds me of home.

Dinde is Turkey in French. The French thought that this bird came from India (poulet d’inde). Just to know.

So it won’t be a surprise to many that the one dish French people think is “un peu bizarre” (a little weird) is the sweet potatoes with marshmallows. They look very confused when they eat it. It’s not a cinnamon kind of country. Just to know.

My sweet potatoes recipe is a combination of two other recipes. I have altered the recipe to make it not too sweet because of massive complaints from the French but slightly toasted marshmallow on top is obligatoire! This year they ate almost all the sweet potatoes!!

Countries represented at the table this year? Italy, French, Slovakia, Portugal, England, and Spain (well, my dog Valerie is from Spain).

And, yes, before we eat I ask all the guests to go around in a circle and tell us what they are most thankful for.

I always end up choked up and teary-eyed when I get to the part of being so thankful for my family, friends, and “oeuf cocotte” (baked eggs).

My kids say, “She cries all the time during this part” and then they start laughing at me. I am in process of trying to find a nice family to take them.

It was a very American dinner but fabulously French with Champagne and Dalida’s “Gigi l’amoroso.” I never thought I would be singing this song at Thanksgiving dinner.

Eye-roll.

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ABOUT MISS YVONNE

Miss Yvonne is a writer, actress and stand-up comedian living in Paris.

She’s also available for tours of the famed and fabulous city.

Contact her at www.parisairconcierge.com.

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Miss Yvonne