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Patty Rough lost her home in Paradise and most of her belongings in the campfire, and she had no place to cook a family meal for Thanksgiving.
But she and her husband are safe and she was still able to spend the holidays with her kids around a turkey dish, cranberry sauce and pie at a feast organized by thousands of people.
She is sad about all that she has lost but realizes that others have a lot less.
"Today, we are grateful, I do not know if I am happy," she said tearing herself apart as she sat next to her son and in front of her daughter. "Happy Thanksgiving is kind of a strange thing at the moment."
Rough is one of thousands of people whose homes were set on fire when devastating fire ravaged Paradise and surrounding communities. At least 83 people have died and more than 13,000 homes have been destroyed.
The fire was under control at 90% Thursday, two weeks after its start. The rain that fell on Wednesday night and started against Thursday afternoon facilitated the fight but complicated the search for human remains in the debris left by the fire.
Wet, windy and cold weather made it difficult for workers to see and move.
This was not a normal Thanksgiving for evacuees or workers.
Matt Berger, a member of FEMA's urban search and rescue team in Orange County, said his colleagues and he were trying not to "get carried away by the fact that we are not at home for the holidays ".
"It's just another day of work for us – we are trying to put an end to some families who have disappeared from their loved ones," he said, standing in the cold in front of a shop. Paradise that has not burned.
Volunteers tried to bring a dose of normalcy to difficult times. World Central Kitchen, a non-profit organization based in Washington, has prepared 15,000 meals, teaming with the Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. of Chico, the local university and the city of Paradise to serve them.
Famous chefs Jose Andres, who created World Central Kitchen, and Guy Fieri cooked and stopped to take selfies with their fans, while reflecting on the tragedy that brought them there.
"This is going to be a year we will never forget," said Andres.
Eduardo Garcia was happy for a hot meal and a place to spend the day. He sat alone at a long table but said that he enjoyed the company's meaning at a meeting in an auditorium at California State University, Chico said. Years ago, Garcia participated in the construction of the auditorium, plastering the exterior walls.
He lost the paradise house where he lived and his immediate family is in Hawaii. For the moment, he lives with a friend in Chico.
"I have nowhere else to go," he says. "Even if I'm not with my family, you can feel good with other people who are in the same situation."
Outside the Paradise region, dozens of people have opened their homes to strangers to offer them a more intimate Thanksgiving holiday.
Rachael Anderson welcomed a displaced mother and daughter to her home in Redding, about an hour and a half from paradise. Anderson knows what it's like to live in a community devastated by the flames: a forest fire swept over Redding last summer.
She has not lost her house and now wants to share it for the day with Athenia Dunham and her 15 year old daughter, Natalie.
"They lost their home, their traditions, everything they did … I just want to give them a little piece of house," Anderson said. "That's what Thanksgiving is all about – it's not just about your blood family, but also about thank you and helping each other."
Faun and Danny O Neel were hosting three families at their home in Folsom, Sacramento.
The parents and grandparents of Faun O Neel lost their home following a fire in Calaveras County several years ago. She therefore declared that opening hers to others was a no-brainer.
Thanksgiving at a stranger's house may not be what his guests were expecting at first, but O Neel hopes it will bring some calm into a difficult time.
"A few hours of normalcy," she says. "Where they can laugh and enjoy the company of other people without thinking about what they have come to live and what awaits them."
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