Holly Jolly Christmas 2011

Christmas this year was lots of fun... from Dec 1st until bedtime tonight it has been filled with excitement, beauty, movies, old traditions, new traditions, food, friends and family.

Some good friends babysat the kids this year so Freddie and I could brave Toys R Us together.  That was a real treat.  Thanks to some snazzy reconnaissance work (je vous remercie toysrus.com) our shopping trip lasted one hour - start to finish, from first present to the last.  Now that, my friends, is a Christmas miracle.  We then had a lunch date at the first Chinese restaurant we have found in France.  How we missed you shrimp fried rice, dumplings and fried chicken somethinganother!  We liked it so much, in fact, that we decided to introduce the kids to westernized Chinese food after watching La Chat Potte where Miss Emily dined on frog legs.  How very french of her and how very un-American of you Chinese restaurant... frog legs and baguettes on the buffet... only in France.

We came home to some happy children, snuggled up with one of their favorite babysitters of the past, watching the Christmas classic, Elf.  Good times.

A British friend introduced me to the Christmas cracker which involves everyone sitting in a circle, crossing arms while holding onto one end of a cracker while your neighbor holds the other, pulling really hard and the cracker pops open with a loud bang and small toys fall out along with brightly colored paper crowns.  We made it random by placing the crackers on the ground in a circle and playing a game of Ring Around the Rosie, with the cracker laying in front of us after we fell down being ours to pop with our neighbor.  We may need to change that ritual as the kids get older.. or, maybe not, surely our 17 year old Joshua will love that on Christmas Eve 2021.

Our Christmas Eve dinner was Raclette, a traditionally Swiss meal consisting of melted cheese, potatoes, veggies, saucisson, salad and the Maison Vacher fanette. Yes, I did mention the name of the boulangerie because it is, without a shadow of a doubt, the best bread I have ever eaten in my life. It is the boulangerie of boulangeries. It is simply da bomb and, of all the things I will definitely miss about our life in France, this little carbohydrate laden luxury tops the list... right up there with great friends and fabulous vacations.  If I could bottle the delightfully mouth watering aroma of their freshly baked - crusty, yet, melt-in-your-mouth buttery - loaves, I would be competing with Coco Chanel.  I am tempted to write a letter to Yankee Candle suggesting they send an associate to Clermont-Ferrand straight away as this is surely the next top selling candle scent. (As if this hasn't already been suggested, right?)  If any portion of a loaf is leftover the next morning - and only fit for bopping someone on top of the head if they step out of line (as are all baguettes in France) - I almost cry as I toss it in to the trash can before I remember that it is only a 5 minute drive away where another one has our name written all over it.  Enough with the bread already.  But it really is that good.

So, where was I?

Yes, the meal.  I would love for this to remain a Page family Christmas Eve tradition.  It is delicious and filling and fun.  But how, pray tell, will I ever find a suitable replacement for the bread?

After we enjoyed dinner, Joshua read to us the story of Jesus' birth in the book of Luke.

The annual children's bedtime story was Twas the Night Before Christmas and I kissed those cherub like darlings bonne nuit and went to work on those dreaded gifts that require assembly.

Bright and early this morning the children woke us, bubbling with excitement to find out what was waiting for them under the tree.

And this was Christmas morning....