Its Christmas eve here in Verteuil sur Charente. The village decorations are up...a few more lights than last year. The french have a bizarre way of decorating the outside of their houses. ....
they hang bows, tinsel and ribbons from greenery outside windows and doors
I doubt these would be around very long in the UK
HERE ARE SOME PHOTOS OF DECORATIONS AROUND THE VILLAGE
The big tree outside the Salle des Fetes
Decorated gardens of demeurre des roses verteuil
Robert our joli butcher..........a busy time of year for him...although he is very busy all year round. He is only closed on a Sunday afternoon............that's one hard working family
L'Atelier Vert ...............the window picture does not do this place justice...beautiful flowers and a fantastic range of gifts upstairs
Le Moulin
Eating home and away
Restaurants are getting booked up. We are dining at lunchtime Christmas Eve at le moulin de verteuil sur charente.
Not many are actually open on Christmas Day and a lot close early on Christmas Eve as many families here celebrate on Christmas Eve. This event can go on into the early hours of the morning...for this reason many older people prefer to have their "repas" on Christmas Day.
I asked a local what the traditional fare would be here for the Christmas meal... as in the UK there are a variety of things that would be special but normally it is
Pineau...........an apertif drink which is a mixture of wine and cognac. Usually from one of your neighbours secret distillery.
Champagne
oysters
crevettes (large prawn)
Fois Gras..........say no more!!!
CHAPON ........For those that don't know what a chapon is....look away now....
its a castrated cock!!!
Potatoes, marrons( chestnuts) and some of the vegetables that cost a little more and you would treat yourself to at this time
Cheese selection with bread! Always before the dessert not after
Dessert would be a Buche. A log to you and me....no, not a wooden one...cake roll .filled with cream or ice cream
That is the basic meal but some families have several courses and need long rests in between..hence the 2am finish...if you are dining at a restaurant or hotel that has a dance floor you will find yourself dancing off the food between courses.
There celebrations are among friends and family ......a celebration of being together , sharing food. drink and each others company . Family is the emphasis rather than the occasion.
Christmas is about the eve or the day........in the UK it seems to start with revelling weeks before. Massive work parties... scantily clad women crawling along the street after heavy drinking sessions leading up to Christmas day or men fighting for no apparent reason other than alcohol fuelled aggression.
This would not happen here...perhaps in the bigger cities...I dont know but not in rural France
SHOPPING
While we read about queues to get in and out of car parks, fighting over stuff in shop aisles, people spending more on Christmas than we earn in a year... we can enjoy the more laid back approach in our little corner of France. . People buy enough food for the Christmas meal and for visitors instead of stocking up for a local siege....shops are slightly busier but nothing claustrophobic.
People trying to outdo neighbours spending a years worth of electricity on outdoor lights.
Shops starting sales to get people to buy more and more of things they dont need.
No scantily clad women crawling along the street after heavy drinking sessions or men fighting for no apparent reason other than alcohol fuelled aggression.
All of these things have become normal practises in the Uk ...and perhaps in the larger cities you may find some evidence of it....I don't know....thankfully it's not what goes on here.
.
A lot of things we did in the UK we did out of expectation. It felt a bit bah humbug to stop doing some of them but somehow Christmas was becoming a stress filled, money wasting expedition full of plastic throwaway stuff, wasted food and unwanted gifts.
I'd love to know what everyones opinions are on the following...
CARDS
I used to write about 100 cards every year. Having lived and worked in lots of different places we had a lot of friends and acquaintances. I would make the effort to hand write notes to say what had been going on in our life. In return ....except for an odd one...I would receive a card saying......nothing!
We came to France in 2009... Just before Christmas.... Let's wait and buy some french cards we said. LESSON 1....the french don't do cards!LESSON 2 You will pay for one card what it costs for a pack in the UK.
We did some DIY ones...which was fun...however next obstacle we came across was the postage costs. Almost a euro per card....more if the letter that was in it was quite lengthy.
In today's technology you can send some lovely e cards free of charge. It's all the same other than the trophy lines of cards hanging up which some people like to proudly show off as a sign of popularity.
We do send some cards...older relatives who don't use the Internet and those who just LOVE to get a card. We often take a Christmas tree decoration instead of a card when we visit people....that's something you can keep instead of throwing away. This year we received this from our soon to be in law family....
That's an idea I will be using next year...thanks Lindsay and Richard Pooley
The money we would have spent on cards we are able to donate to a different charity each year
DECORATIONS
Not being a great fan of plastic I find a lot of the decorations tacky, cheap and nasty.
What could be nicer than filling your house with holly, laurel leaves, fir branches and cones...all available free from local forests and lanes. Baked oranges, cinnamon sticks ...natural products.
Our friend Liz Nolan
They are the fallen oak nuts. She separated them then sprayed the nut gold. Once dry she glued the nut back in.
Great to have in your bowls with fir cones or put on a string and hang on the trees.
I think they are gorgeous and its a great present.
on the subject of which....
PRESENTS
I love presents...who doesn't!! . There's was always something exciting about different shaped parcels and boxes..and the surprise of what inside. The thing I love about getting a present is that someone has thought of me.....and if they know me they have managed to get something they feel I would like.
Lets be honest how many presents have you opened and thought ...what on earth!!!...what a waste...
...a bit like the drivers gloves and car cleaning set once given to our 13 year old!!! Oh yes
We don't do presents at Christmas and we don't expect any....bah humbug again.
We give to our children ....its always money as that way they too can get something they need or want. We would give them this at any time of year..its not just for Christmas. Whenever they visit us we can treat them to little pressies if we see something they would like.
We have savings accounts for the grandchildren..unless there is something specific that parents would like us to get for them..we pay their money in there. Children often have far too many presents to open on Christmas day ...its too much for one day.
Surely this isn't the intention of the true celebration of Christmas
In France there seems to be less commercialism and less overkill.
Of course children have Santa and lovely gifts ...just not so many.
For adults there are the usual gift sets of the cosmetic variety and lot of chocolate and plants in the shops.
Less of the "novelty " type gifts which you find in all the charity shops after Christmas ( at least someone will benefit from them)
As in Languedoc the folk in Charente seem to like to exchange home made stuff with their neighbours. Last year we made chocolate fudge for them. This year, as we had been to the UK for a visit, we bought some wensleydale and cranberry cheese, yorkshire blue and a box of crackers.
I will report back as to what they thought of it!!!
I have had a little setback to finishing my winter work.............
I have broken wrist.
I would like to say it was a spectacular fall something exciting like ski ing or snowboarding but it was just my usual walking too quickly and not paying attention to the footpath.
Luckily its the left wrist ( i am right handed) ... after the first week of pain and immobility I have been able to catch up on some of the work
Carrots have all been dug up.....essential as the chickens who are now free ranging in the garden were attempting to dig them up for me. I never thin my carrots...too much work and attracts the carrot fly.....so I never now what t expect.
The big ones I use to make batches of carrot and coriander soup. The medium ones chop into cubes for casseroles and the small ones I just blanch as they are to serve with roast dinner. Of course there always the weird and wonderful odd shaped ones.
This I managed with one hand...the good one!!....not an easy task but its done!!!
We also have an excess of eggs again...the girls have all started laying every day...this them helping me do some weeding the other day
" I DON'T KNOW BUT I'M NOT GETTING IN JUST IN CASE"
so i made some large scotch eggs for meals and some smaller ones to use for aperos. they freeze really well.The smaller ones I added curry spice for a change..
EASY PEASY TO MAKE BUT VERY MESSY!!!!!
SITTING ROUND THE KAGAI
Last night we were invited to join some new holiday Verteuilaise residents. Nick and Tina have bought a beautiful Maison de Maitre house edging on to the river with a great view of the chateau. They intend to live here one day and we welcome them heartily to the village,
We sat around a KAGAI....a very large outdoor fire pit with seating benches around it...cooking local sausages on skillets, drinking wine (of course) laughing, chatting, singing with old friends and new
Its hard to believe we were able to sit outside till midnight on the 23 rd of December under an almost full moon and not feel cold!!!
Welcome to Nick and Tina and their very charming 4 boys.
So this is my last post of 2015 and I am already looking forward to 2016............Resolutions or not???Plans??? New ventures????? Objectives!!!
Cant wait to hear what yours are
- BONNE FETES A TOUS xxxxxxxx
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