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My first French Christmas

On Christmas morning, I woke up to a video of my adorable niece sent by my brother, saying “Ho, ho, ho, mehwy chwistmas”.

It had been a very merry Christmas indeed, and my first experiencing it the French way. My own family doesn’t celebrate Christmas per se, but for one that loves to cook and to eat, it does mean three festive meals (we start with a good Irish roast, followed by a Chinese steamboat, and finally Korean barbecue) with mere few hours break in between. That’s a lot of eating in a single day.

The celebration in France is bound to be different, and in fact, my belle famille doesn’t buy into the overlong meal with extravagant dish after dish in one seating. Instead, we get to spread the feast over two days. A satisfying Christmas eve dinner and a boisterous Christmas day lunch makes the whole experience much more manageable, and I did enjoy my meals a lot more. (Here they are, in pictures.)

Christmas meal

Christmas meal

Christmas meal

Christmas meal

Christmas meal

Christmas meal

Christmas meal

Christmas meal

Christmas meal

Christmas meal

Christmas meal

Christmas meal

Many of the typical favourites on French’s Christmas table were drank – champagne, wine, Sauternes – and consumed – gingerbread, brioche, bread, foie gras, smoked salmon, baked clams (family tradition), capon (castrated rooster, if you’re wondering), chestnuts, cheese platter, tart and Yule log. Shots of coffee and morsels of chocolates to round everything off, of course.

I shall not go near any weighing scale in the next few days (or weeks), for the damage may still plunge me into a mini crisis. And we definitely do not want this to happen before I devour all the galette des rois I can get my hands on in January. In the mean time, I’ll just go out for more long walks or spend more time trying to not drown in the pool. That ought to keep me in good shape while I eat my way through the festivities well into the first month of the new year. ;)



Category: Food & Drink, Ma vie en France

Tagged: , , ,

12 scribbles & notes

  1. Selena says:

    sounds good! and psssttt…. love handles mean more to hang on to LOL ;)

  2. sila says:

    yum! that chocolate orange tart looks deeeelicious! and i totally agree with selena. :-)

  3. CL says:

    stumbled in your blog .. great writing on life in Paris …

    plate of cheeses, eh? Do you like cheese? I don’t.

    No turkey for Xmas in France?

    BTW, I am married to Germany.

    • Lil says:

      Thanks! I do love cheeses, so just as well I live in France and could indulge in as many variety as possible. I expect there were turkeys being served for Christmas, just not at my in-law’s ;)

  4. CL says:

    super impolite of me, Merry Belated Christmas and an advanced Happy new year .. :)

  5. Caitriona says:

    Merry Christmas, Lil!

  6. med says:

    wow wow wow…super yummmmmmyyyyy….
    and a happy new year lil!!! ;)

    • Lil says:

      Kudos to my MIL for preparing the lovely meals, for all I needed to do was to eat them up. And I set/clear the table as payment in return ;)

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