Christmas at home

It's been a long while since we've had Christmas at home and not travelled to see Seb's family over the holidays. This year at the last minute we chose to stay home and ponder all of the things life has suddenly thrown our way, a myriad of goodness in many respects but wrapped in a package of turmoil and tension.

Just for starters--we're moving, Seb is starting his new job in January,* I've just started fertility treatments and our close friends are moving back to the States.** All these things are good things really, but they're as difficult to digest as a really good holiday meal. We're a teensy bit overwhelmed at the moment.

As we sat in front of our new fireplace in front of the first Christmas tree we've had in two years, we discussed the past year and how it's ups and downs had changed us for the better or for the worse. We never expected most of the years events, the move and the problems having a second baby, it seemed like they kind of snuck up on us out of nowhere. But, when we thought about it a little more we concluded that we've always had surprise life altering events like this and when given a choice in situations we often took the difficult of two decisions. By the time a very nice bottle of Saumur was finished we had come to one single conclusion: whatever life throws our way we handle it gracefully as a couple. We hang on. We don't let it destroy us. We build on it and form a stronger marriage. Our foundation is solid and although it's been shaken a few times, we always weather it well when all is said and done.

We couldn't have had a more lovely holiday together, and I don't think we have in years. We sat close by the fire in our two small, overstuffed white sofa chairs while baby S played at our feet. We talked and laughed and ate our way through a minature three star meal of about six or seven little well-planned courses. I'm such a foodie that as soon as we'd decided to stay home and not travel to my in-laws, I ran to the cookbook cupboard to obsess over my shopping list. Here's what we ate, with little fuss on small wooden a table in front of the fire: toasted pine nut spinach dip with walnut breads, fresh cocktail shrimp over ice with avocado slices, coquille st. jacques frisée salad with warm, balsamic vinegar drizzled over top, boudin blanc prepared with cépes and sautéed granny smith apples, cold stuffed salmon, couscous baked herbed stuffing, and finally pecan pineapple cheesecake. The menu sounds extensive but it wasn't really. We ate tiny portions and had the meal over two days, repeating it on Christmas day in the late afternoon. The only headache was of course the cheesecake which leaked out of my new springform pan all over the bottom of my formerly very CLEAN oven. The house filled with smoke and Seb couldn't imagine what could be coming out of the oven that could possibly taste good. It wasn't half bad. He had no complaints when he tasted it and helped himself to two huge pieces.

Oh, I almost forget the wine. Over the last three days we drank a lot of wine, all bottles collected over the last few weeks and some presents left by neighbors and friends. We had two really excellent bottles, one a Crémant d'Alsace from a winery called Wolfberger (68420), and the other an Auxerrois réserve from a winery called Zimmermann which I highly recommend. This one was a gift so we aren't sure about price, but the Wolfberger crémant had a very good quality/price rapport. Well, good at least if you buy it here in France that is. Maybe not so good when exported!


What I appreciated most about this holiday was that we could build on our traditions. Much of French tradition revolves around table fare, not so much the cooking but the preparing and the eating and of course the sitting around a table, children strapped dutifully to their high chairs for several hours while they learn the fine art of eating, and eating and EATING. The food is amazing but the table gets tiring for me and I usually long to escape to an easy chair, feet up with a grandparent on either side to chat with. I have always liked eating a buffet around the tree of things like cinnamon pancakes and sausages, mini omelets, fresh fruit and fresh squeezed juice. I've always wanted to host Christmas showing off how nice it can be to not have an overburdened, highly scheduled meal with too many relatives, but rather a calm, carefully planned menu with people you really want to be with, a funky white elephant gift exchange,**** and lots of fun decorating with real ornaments, made of glass, wood and metal, collected over years and carefully unwrapped each season to place on the tree. I'd like to show off, baking and icing of dozens of sugar cookies and introduce my French family to my wonderful cookie cutter collection which fills an entire drawer. I hope they do come one year. It would be fun.
We did see the family this Christmas thanks to the webcam which we had set up in the living room next to the tree all weekend. All of our family is connected to MSN in their various corners of the world and so we got to see both of our parents, my brother and his dogs, my sister and her new beau, Seb's grandparents and our little French niece and nephew. Everyone was happy to see us and toasted glasses of bubbly with us while we chatted and showed off our newest ornament additions and baby S's computer keyboard bashing skills. It wasn't the same as being all together, but it was the next best thing to it.

Christmas morning was wonderful with baby S finally figuring out that wrapped packages contain delightfully fabulous things. Watching him open gifts was like reliving all the childhood Christmas's I'd ever had. We tried no to overdo the gifts, but when we ran out of them it was actually us who were the diappointed ones. It was so much fun to see his goofy smiles and grins at the novelty of it all. We captured it all on video but neglected to take any photographs. It's really tough balancing being a parent and enjoying the moment and having the responsibility of capturing all the memories on film and tape!

So, all in all a very good Christmas weekend. Besides our fireside chats we spent much of the rest of our time watching all three episodes of the original Star Wars films, one right after the other over the two days. The temptation was too great, a camp bed by the fire in front of the Christmas tree and a great flick. We stretched out on our fluffy down comforter and watched jedi knights battle it out as we sipped our after dinner brandy. In fact this was the best Christmas we've had in years.


*After much inner turmoil he's decided to take the job in Lyon.
**My good friend Bea is leaving in July...forever.
***We have always done white elephant exchanges in my family--it's lots of fun even though it's the epitome of cheesy. We also do a normal gift exchange but the elephant exchange is chaotic and fun with lots of shouting.