La Journée des Accions de Graces Chez Nous. Thanksgiving Day at our House

     Aujourd’hui, a la table de français, j’ai eu besoin de me venter de ma famille et la fête des acciôns de graces chez nous.  Amber, ma femme, a fait les preparaciôns avant de la journée, mais, maleursement, elle etait malade la matin de la journée.  Ça matin-la presque toute la famille est arrivée, et s'est restée beaucoup des choses à faire.  Je suis allé a la chambre d’Amber, elle m’a dit les direcciôns.  Je suis retourné à la cuisine, et j’ai dit les direcciôns a la famille, et tous ont fait les direcciôns.  Nous nous avons repiter beaucoup de fois.  Il y avait 12 personnes dans la cuisine, enfants et petits-enfants, et tous etaient trés ocupés. Tout la famille se divertit et chaqu’un avait une parte de la preparaciôn, et le repas était fantastique.  Heureusement, Amber a la chance de parler avec la famille, et la prochain jour elle a recouvert.  Toujours c’était beaucoup de manger, et elle pouvait manger le bon repas.  Quelle bonne fête nous avons eu!  Merci pour la joie de famille.

     Today at the French table, I had to brag about my family and the Thanksgiving celebration at our house.  Amber made preparations before the day, but sadly she was ill that morning.  Almost all the family arrived that morning, and much remained to be done.  I went to Amber's room, she told me what to do.  I returned to the kitchen and passed the directions on to the family, and they all followed the directions.  We repeated that many times.  There were 12 people in the kitchen, children and grandchildren, and everyone was very busy.  Everyone had a good time, and everyone had a part in the preparation.  and the meal was excellent.  Fortuneatly, Amber had a chance to talk with the family, and she recovered the next day.  There were still plenty of left-overs, and she was able to have a great meal.  What a great holiday we had!  Thanks for the joy of family.

Bindestrek-Amerikanere, Hyphenated-Americans

 Carl Schurz, tysk-amerikansk statsmann    

foto  tak til de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Schurz   



på norsk

I dag, på  norskebordet, vi lest litt om norsk jul skikker.  Etterpa snakket vi om aktivitetene til andre bindestrek-amerikanere; dansk-amerikanere, svensk-amerikanere; og den innsats de har gjørt  i amerikansk kultur.

Det brakt til sinn mitt et sitat fra Carl Schurz, en nittende århundre tysk-amerikansk statsmann.

"Jeg har alltid vaert i favør  av en sunn amerikanisering, men det betyr ikke at en komplett negasjon av vår  tyske arv.  Det betyr at vår  karakter bør ta på  seg det beste av det som er amerikansk, og kombinere det med det beste av det som er tysk.  Ved a gjøre dette, kan vi best tjene det amerikanske folk og sivilisasjon deres."

Så  mange bindestrek-amerikanere har brakt til oss det beste av sin hjemlige kultur, blande dem med amerikansk kultur å gjøre en perfektere nasjon.  Takk til alle de modige innvandrere som har beriket oss i fortiden, og til dem som i dag hjelper oss a bygge en bedre Amerika i fremtiden.

English

Today at the Norwegian table, we read a little about Norwegian Christmas customs.  Afterwards, we talked about the activities of hyphenated-Americans; Danish-Americans, Swedish-Americans; and the contributions they made to American culture.

It brought to my mind a quote from Carl Schurz, a nineteenth century German-American statesman.

"I have always been in favor of a healthy Americanization, but that does not mean a complete disavowal of our German heritage.  It means that our character should take on the best of that which is American, and combine it with the best of that which is German.  By doing this, we can best serve the American people and their civilization."

So many hyphenated-Americans have brought to us the best of their homeland cultures, mixing them with American culture, to make a more perfect nation.  Thank you to all those brave immigrants who have enriched us in the past, and to those who today help us to build a better America in the future.