One major difference between American and French Christmas, is that ALL of the festivities go on on Christmas Eve (the 24th). Usually there is a big family meal and then at 12Midnight, the baby Jesus is added to the Creche (nativity scene) and then presents are opened. My host family has the tradition of spending Christmas with another Family and some very close friends. The holiday meal is always held at their home and everyone comes to celebrate. The guest arrived around 8:30 and the festivities began.
We started off with some champagne and appetizers made by a friend. He is from the Island of Reunion, it's a French Dept. off the coast of Africa just east of Madagascar. They were very good, a little spicy, a little salty, and a lotta good! haha. anyway, after socializing and eating, we made our way to the table to start the real meal. The meal started with Fois Gras, Literally one of the most delicious things I have ever tasted. It's a shame that the method to make it is so cruel that it is illegal in the United States; it involves a goose, a funnel, and 4 times cornmeal that would normally be fed to a goose, twice a day... pretty sick, but still way too delicious not to eat! It's eaten on small warmed slices of buttery toast. Something interesting about eat it is that you're not supposed to spread it, you're just supposed to place it on the toast and eat it. Spreading it breaks down the structures and then eating it isn't as enjoyable. After the fois gras, we started in on the fruits de mer (seafood). Normally seafood isn't my favorite course, but this seafood was very, very good! There were shrimp, mini shrimp, plus a giant kind of shrimp that they call langoustines, which, according to google translator, is a lobster, but it's not a lobster, more of a crayfish, I think. There were also spiders... Sea spiders. I was told we were going to eat spiders and I almost got up and left the table, but really they are just crabs with 8 legs and a harder shell; they were the best of the seafood, I think. The French people ate the heads, but I stuck with the legs.
 |
| Christmas Tree, decorated by your's truly |
After seafood, it was midnight, which meant time to put the baby Jesus in the nativity scene and open presents! The nativity was "vite fait" (done quickly) and then it was time for presents! I got way more than I even expected. I was thinking maybe some trinkety thing from my host family and chocolate. Boy was I surprised. My host family got me an official French national football (soccer) team Scarf and flag, A striped cotton scarf, Ralph Lauren body wash, a sweater from Zara, that was too small, so instead I got 40Euro in gift cards and bought the same sweater 2 weeks later on sale in a different color for 15Euro less, score, and also a ticket to see Mozart: Rock Opera, but there was conflicting dates with one of my school trips, so instead I am "renting an apartment in paris for 4 days with my host sister and host mom" you'll find out why that is in parentheses at the end of February, but for right now, there is a surprise brewing... After all of that, from family friends, I received chocolates, a knit scarf, really really soft and warm! and a 20Euro gift card to Galeries Lafayette! All in all, it was a good haul! I may even be forgetting things, but I don't remember right now. After presents, we went back to the table and decided that, after all the food we had already eaten, a turkey was too much food and that we would eat it the following day. We still ate cheese and dessert, but after that, everyone left pretty quickly and we all slept well.
 |
| The Living Room, after opening presents |
The next day, everyone, plus my host grandma, who was afraid of falling asleep at the table the night before, thus stopping her from coming, came back to the house to eat the leftovers, PLUS the turkey. It was like 2 Christmases in a row! Everyone ate well, then we watched some weird French TV all together, then everyone left. It was another relaxing day!
I got packed up and ready to go to Brussels, Belgium for what I thought would be 3 days, but ended up being 6!
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire