Another Christmas come and gone but this was no ordinary
Christmas for us. Our first in the Northern Hemisphere, first in our new home
and first in our new country. It was almost strange to be wrapping up warmly at
Christmas time but it was exciting too. Opening
presents from under the tree in front of a roaring fire was quite a
change from our usual South African Christmases. Our midday meal on Christmas
Day was also a little different. We had
a typically French starter in the form of a hot goat’s cheese salad, followed
by roast capon with sage and onion stuffing, and vegetables and finished off
with vanilla icecream topped with a raspberry coulis, made with fresh
raspberries. After which none of us could move! To prove the point, everyone
sat around the table chatting for quite a while until we all moved into the
lounge for coffee and to watch a movie,
which we had recorded the night before. In fact it was a very satisfactory day
all round.
The week previous to the 25th was fairly chaotic
until Thursday when Andre and Leigh hired a car so that they could be
independent. For example, on Tuesday I had a doctor’s appointment at 10.30
while Neels, Andre and Leigh had an11 o’clock rendez-vous at the bank to set up
accounts etc. The girls were let loose in the town. My appointment was finished
and done with by 11, so I set off for the bank on foot to the diagonally
opposite corner of town. Anyone who knows me will know that walking is not one
of my favourite occupations, especially uphill; on cobbled streets; and wrapped
up like a Michelin Man. However, by zig-zagging my way along, I managed to
intersperse the uphills with a short distances of flat (-tish) ground and
arrived at my destination even before they were finished there. My halo was so
tight after all that walking that I should have had a headache, I’m sure!
On Thursday we had a similar clash of times but as Neels and
I were alone, we managed to work it out more easily. Thank goodness though for
supermarkets and shops that close at 6pm. Not that they were any less busy
being only a couple of days away from Christmas. Who told me that the French
don’t really celebrate Christmas?? I could easily have been mistaken but people
appeared to be shopping as there was to be no tomorrow, but if there was, then
perhaps it would be a Christmas public holiday! I had to wait a few minutes in
the foyer of the supermarket and idly watched the trolleys coming away from the
tills. I was amazed, shocked, even appalled at the fullness of the trolleys.
Were these people setting up for a siege that we hadn’t heard about? The shops
would only be closed for one day, after all. But, don’t tell me, I know. This
happens everywhere and the traders just clap their hands in glee. Ker-ching!
Most of the villages around have put up decorations for the
season, the scope of these being commensurate with the wealth of the community.
The bigger towns, obviously, have quite an
impressive show while some of the smallest villages rely on the inhabitants to
brighten things up. Our own village has a number of little pine trees around
the centre part of town and these have all been decorated with tinsel and
flashing lights. Very pretty and delicate. Imagine our surprise when, on
returning from a walk with the girls, Neels and I found our own house decorated
with a string of flashing lights wound around the veranda rail. And indoors,
our teeny-tiny tree had it’s own string of teeny-tiny lights – a gift from all
the children in the house, big and small. We were absolutely delighted.
I have been religiously taking my camera out with us every
day in the hopes of finding some new, amazing and startling to photograph and
show you, but grey skies are not conducive to pretty pictures so instead I have
include a few indoor ones.
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