our French christmas

Christmas in France, as in many cultures,  is a time for catching up with family, or failing that reuniting with old friends.    This year our respective extended families won't be with us, but we will have friends staying and others invited for dinner and lunch.


We like to exchange gifts on Christmas Day and we also have stockings to open on Christmas morning.  These have always been my favourite bit of Christmas.  When the children were little, the stockings filled by Santa, were left in front of the fireplace on Christmas Eve and discovered at the end of their beds on Christmas morning.  Come dawn I had  little voices whispering in my ear  "Mummy, can we start opening our presents yet,  look what Father Christmas  brought me!"

 In France the Christmas Eve dinner is almost more important than lunch on Christmas Day.  For this meal we favour a series of small courses, enjoying food that we don't eat all year round.  My favourite on the menu are the home made blini that accompany smoked salmon, cream, dill and black pepper. 

Many French families go to evening Mass early on Christmas Eve then return home to share gifts before sitting down for a long dinner.  The next day they may join up with the same family members or other cousins, grandparents ... to enjoy Christmas lunch.  The most popular Christmas afternoon activity is often a long walk together - good idea after all that food!!

We more or less stick to that here, although I have somehow added an extra dinner this evening, inviting friends we won't be seeing over the holidays.

All these meals, with guests in the house, mean that I do as much preparation as possible ahead of time.  I already showed you the chestnut creams that are ready in the freezer; and my proper Christmas pudding was made weeks ago.

But I have also made mince pies, biscuits and mini sausage rolls for those iffy moments at the end of the day when nobody is really hungry for another meal but if I put out a selection of cheese, fruit, and nibbles it always seems to be appreciated with a glass of wine in front of the fire.

So I'll finish writing this blog post early in the morning, wrap a few final gifts.  Prepare some individual tiramisus for dinner this evening and probably decorate the fireplace like I did last year.

An enjoyable day, the children around catching up with their friends, listening to music,
an air of quiet excitement.  Hope you're having fun too.

Tomorrow I have some special Christmas greetings for you, then I'll sign off for a few days.