Our Blog - Christmas 2020

Christmas this year was another interesting holiday. The French government eased restrictions but it wasn't "normal" yet. Restaurants are still closed and the number of people at gatherings is limited, but we were trying to be as normal as we could, within the limitations in place.

First, the tree. Last year was Lucy's first Christmas and we weren't sure how she was going to react to a Christmas tree. We got a little artificial tree that we could put on a small table and added a few non-breakable ornaments (just in case she decided to hit the tree and toss the tree and all of the ornaments across the floor). She was great with the tree last year and so we moved up to a full-sized tree. We still went with an artificial tree for a variety of reasons. In the US, we almost always had an artificial tree except for the time we lived in Connecticut. We bought a live tree and had the wonderful experience of trying to tie it to the top of my Explorer in the sleet/snow storm of the day, then hauling it up the stairs and leaving needles everywhere. Then, when we finally got rid of it, we realized that the tree holder we had used must have leaked and there was a nice ring-stain in the carpeting. Needless to say, no live tree in our new house in North Carolina after that! We also got a real tree for our first Christmas in Toulouse. No stain that time because, well, the French don't really think you need to water a live tree because, well, it is no longer alive since someone chopped it down. But instead of attempting to tie it to the roof of the car, you have 2 people with gloves walking 6 blocks carrying it around town.

While I really like "real" Christmas trees, we went back to an artificial one. We found a really nice one (we think it is really nice) and got it all decorated with the ornaments that we have been collecting throughout our travels. You can imagine what odd things we have on the tree, since finding a Christmas ornament in places like Thailand, Laos, and Japan are not that easy. We have more than a couple key chains because we can hang them easily, and even a little Buddha statue. If you look closely, right in the middle of the picture you can maybe see a bagel (our last trip to NYC) and a sheep (the white ball with the little black face in the middle).

We then tried to get a few with Lucy with us and the tree but the one thing we haven't been able to teach Lucy is the art of posing for pictures!

She got a little more interested when we started putting the presents underneath. Luckily, she did good with the presents also and while she likes to rip paper, she didn't touch any of the presents (yeah!!!).

The next set of pictures are from around town. There is an 8pm curfew but we did want to get out one night and grabbed some pictures of the lights around town. Even with the lockdown and restrictions, the city did get out and put up all of the lights!

They also put up the Christmas Tree ride in Square Charles de Gaulle and I grabbed a video.

Then around the corner to Place du Capitole, where normally they have the Christmas Market. This year, the market was cancelled and they moved the kids Christmas area from Square Charles de Gaulle to Place du Capitole because it is larger and they could spread things out more. They also have lights up on the Mairie and a light show that is displayed on the buildings around the square.

Christmas morning Lucy got to open all of her gifts first. I actually think she got toy-ed out because the first few gifts, we would start opening them and then she would stick her nose in, grab the toy out, and then run over with it to the rug and play for a few seconds, and then come back for the next one. After about 5 or 6, she seemed no longer interested in pulling out the toy from the package, but she would still take it from us and play with it. We tried to replace a handful of squeaky toys that no longer squeaked with ones that squeaked, at least for a few days. Needless to say, the red ball in front lasted one day and then she chewed a hole in the plastic, and she amputated a leg off a little brown plastic pig before we caught her in the act. The rope toys won't last too long, one of her favorite things is to pull out each little individual string (and then eat the string).

We actually had quite a few social events this year, for 4 straight days, we had something to do. We first started with a little get-together with a couple that live nearby and then a small Christmas Eve dinner party. The curfew was removed for Christmas Eve although there was still a limit on the number of people gathering. Then we made a Christmas Day lunch and invited a couple American friends of ours over. This year, instead of an American holiday meal, I attempted a semi-French one. We started with smoked salmon blinis and a "Paté en Croute" with quail and raisins. If you haven't heard of Paté en Croute before, the easiest way to explain it is somewhat like Spam (but made from various really tasty things like quail and raisins) wrapped in puffed pastry and baked. It is very common in France and you can buy various kinds at every butcher in France. Then we followed with a stuffed capon (stuffed with pork, veal, foie gras, and chestnuts), a vegetable gratin, and beignets of cepe mushrooms. Instead of one large bûche de noel, we opted for individual "bûchettes" de noel (think just a miniature bûche) so that we could get 5 different flavors and cut each into 4 pieces. That way, we got 5 different tastes! While (personally) I didn't do great with the cooking, everyone lied and said how great it tasted ... what great friends we have! Then the day after Christmas, we had another small get-together with the same set of friends for a whiskey tasting. Tom and I really don't drink whiskey, but we had a great time actually trying little tastes of 5 or 6 different types of whiskey.