Midpoint

It was a fun week with La Chandeleur and our Imbolc celebration. The two are essentially the same holiday/festival. We made candles for Imbolc and then on la chadeleur we decorated our morning pancake table with all the candles in the house. This was our second year celebrating Imbolc as a family. The kids were very excited that it meant Mrs. Thaw might come soon and clean up. They'd open the door and say "she's here, look I saw her and it is getting warmer see!"

We always do crêpes each year this time with our neighbors, usually at a gouter with about ten or twelve kids. It's always me the non French one who reminds the moms what day it is and plans everything. This is one of those old French traditions I feel is slipping away. I'm pushing to keep it alive and well. Who doesn't love making and eating crêpes!

I like this time of year. I always get a little low around Thanksgiving and then perk back up right around this time. I think that's what these midpoint winter celebration were all about. Everyone needs a good dose of hope this time of year.

Oh and Happy Chinese New Year! little S has his rabbit on the table there just a coincidence really. I almost forgot about it. I think I'll be mentioning this a lot earlier next year.

Halloween candy

We had our first Halloween in France this year can you believe it? A bit of background, in fact Halloween isn't really celebrated in Europe, my big lament from time to time, but most times no big deal. I'd pretty much tossed it aside and enjoyed the November first aspect of All Saints Day (a day off in France) Also the kids in France are on vacation the week before and a few days after Halloween and traditionally they go to their grandparents (nearly all kids do this because the parents don't want to take time off for a family vacation in November, no ski and no sun!) And so since most grandparents are anti Halloween because it's garishness interferes with a very religious holiday the kids don't have much opportunity to get dressed up and go out. It's been really played down in recent years in France but apparently in the 80's and 90's it was very popular, or so people tell me.

This is our first year staying at home for the November break and our neighbors with kids organize a "betise or bon-bons" sortie so I was really looking forward to it. Each year they go around and pass notes to all the neighbors. If the neighbors want to give out treats they put the note on their door and the kids ring the bell. The kids all gather at the same hour and hit all the houses together which I think is a great idea and really safe. About twelve kids dressed up as witches and ghosts and we went to about fifteen houses where the people were really enthusiastic and some even dressed up! The kids had a TON of candy and got to experience a very American Halloween like I remember when I was a kid.

Now what to do with all the candy, hmmm?

The waiting

I've changed my ticket once already and we're still stuck waiting to see what happens. If we can't leave tomorrow for our trip to the US I'm pretty sure we'll have to cancel because they keep rebooking me five days later and at the end there isn't much vacation time left. Hopefully we'll at least get to reuse our tickets this summer. We booked using sky miles so I'll have to read the really fine print on that.

At least we aren't stuck somewhere on vacation indefinitely. Ummm, I guess.

The most wonderful time of the year

It's that time of year again. Happy Holidays to all. I have lots of stories and pictures to share but for now I'll just share a few of my favorite things, my unlit tree and the most wonderful part of our house, the fireplace.

French Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all my stranded expat friends!

I've invited an English friend for pizza and movies. A girls night out to make up for being alone. Seb always seems to be gone at Thanksgiving time. This makes four years now. He obviously doesn't understand the importance of the holiday (grrr).

I really miss my family today. I don't really care about missing Christmas or Fourth of July, (well I DO but), but, missing Thanksgiving is really hard.

Eat lots of cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes for me if you are lucky enough to be at home today.

Easter egg hunt

This is the first Easter where Little S has caught on to things, well technically it should have been last year but I think we were in hmm, let me check my blog, be right back... oh yeah, we were in the Yucatan. Ohhh dear I didn't need to see that! Okay so we skipped Easter last year because we were in p a r a d i s e (no need for celebrating holidays in paradise). And so Little S had his first traditional Easter this year with egg hunt and all the trimmings.

I'm not really a good mom for remembering how to do things perfectly and recreating memories. I forget things most moms know automatically like that the bunny hides the eggs (saw that on someone else's blog, oops), that the baskets are for the eggs, and blah, blah, blah. I just kind of left the baskets on the doorstep filled with candy and chocolates and the kids believed the bunny left them. Later in the day we dyed the eggs, i know, i know backwards, right, and then we did an egg hunt. I hid the eggs while he watched, oops, okay whatever. It all worked out and I kind of like our tradition so even if it's wrong and goofy it worked well and we'll probably stick to it.

In the early afternoon after a small lunch we went to Paris for a drive and stumbled on the Bois de Boulogne which is awesome. It's a really pretty wood just outside the city with dirt and concrete trails. We had a nice walk and Little S got to ride his new bike, Charlotte her Disney piano car (mil's well chosen christmas gift, cough, cough), and we got to see the entrance the the Jardin d'Acclimatation. The entrance only because fees are really expensive and confusing. Anywho, they have an exhibit all centered on The USA which meant tee-pees, Ford Mustangs, Jazz and hamburgers, cliche´ but kind of funny, so we hung out debating on whether we'd go in or not. Umm, that'd be no.




Overheard at the entrance, a guy on his cell phone "beh, tu sais les etats unis c'est pas vraiment mon truc" (the states aren't really my thing) which made me laugh for some reason because he was standing in front of a Mustang, and I don't know it was just so cliché and he was being so French.



When we got home we fed the kids and put them in bed, then we had our own dinner--candlelight and all the snazz. The kids were exhausted and I just wanted some time alone with Seb before he left for his two weeks. We had a nice time but I could feel his tension about the upcoming trip and as soon as we finished dessert he was off hunting for his passport and internet cables. I've been so happy that he hasn't had to travel lately. I guess I've gotten too used to it.

I hope everyone reading this had a Happy Easter and overdosed on chocolate like me, because really that's the best part of the holiday.

Christmas and the gift exchange

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas. I wanted to do a Christmas post and show off my enormous Christmas tree but things were chaotic last week. I was sick again.

At first we were to stay at home but we ended up going to my in-laws after a bunch of last minute badgering on the part of mil who called in pepére (grandpa) for reinforcement. I had told Seb from the getgo that going or not going was up to him since I didn't want to be the sort of wife who makes her husband choose, and to be honest I'm not really angry anymore at the in-laws just disappointed. I said my peace and I actually feel better about things. At least they know how I feel now.

Mother-in-law was actually pretty nice to me considering our argument from a few months ago. Charlotte was teething and I had a sinus infection (again, sigh) and she was really helpful and understanding. It was a difficult two days but in spite of it all we had a nice time. My only pet peeves were all centered on the gift exchange which is just poorly planned. It's chaos I'm sorry. They aren't used to exchanging gifts so the gift exchange thing with the kids is all new territory and they don't plan it well so kids are tearing open presents right and left. They have no idea what they're doing and the kids end up opening everyone's gifts not knowing what's what. And that brings up my other peeve of the gift choices. It's a plastic extravaganza! They buy all the cheapest crappiest toys. I wish mil would ask me what the kids like. For what she spends on three gifts they could have one small gift each. She knows this because I've pretty much told her, delicately ´dancing around the fact that the kids have enough toys and they only really need books and things that grow as part of a collection like Lego or Playmobil. And there is now the space issue because we really have no room for any more toys. I know they're excited about buying but it's just waste. All the crap toys last a few months and then they end up in the garbage. I know she thinks I'm a big meanie for not letting her spoil her grandkids but she needs to come to her senses. The toys never last more than three falls down the steps and they're taking over our house!

We went the abbey St. Etienne in Caen for Christmas Eve mass which was really pretty then afterwards we went to sil and bil's for a huge feast. Bil is an excellent cook and he made all these fun surprises like escargot/bacon appetizers, and he had us clearing the palate midmeal with a camembert sorbet he concocted, yum. He's a fun cook. Me I gorged on oysters. I love oysters and I think I ate over a dozen by myself. We ate like kings as only the French can do at Christmas. I did the desserts, a traditional Buche de Noel and an amaretto cheesecake. Both were really good but everyone was so full they hardly noticed. I could barely eat half of a piece of cheesecake and it killed me. It takes so long to make!

Then at midnight my neice and nephew opened gifts and we watched. It's not our tradition to open gifts at midnight so we didn't participate and I had their gifts saved for later because I have remembered the chaos of their midnight gift unwrapping. One thing that bugs me about exchanging gifts for the kids is sil tells the kids that *all* gifts come from santa and it's really annoying. I don't need them to thank me but I think it's unhealthy for them to think gifts essentially fall from the sky. My kids get two token Santa gifts and they're from me and Seb. The gifts from the family are from the family and they are expected to thank them for the gifts. Because we're with the in laws celebrating Christmas we have to end up telling S that all his gifts from them are from Santa and I hate that. I left all his gifts from my side of the family at home for this reason. I don't like the Santa thing all that much anyway, we are borderline into it, but this nonsense of the kids thinking everything is from Santa boils my blood. The next day the gifts we bought got tossed in the "Santa pile" with little thanks from anyone for all the thought we put into choosing them. Later in the afternoon I picked up one of the gifts and looked at it, studying the box and my six year old niece came up next to me,"Santa brought me that one! He knows I like Playmobil!" I sighed. It just all seemed kind of warped to me that she is at an age where she could express her pleasure for something but had no tangible idea where it came from.

I'm not a grinch but there is a limit.

Skinny santa

There's nothing more French than a skinny Santa dangling for his life outside an apartment window. These are everywhere this time of year.

Celebrating in France

Someone in the States once said to me "wait you mean you don't celebrate Thanksgiving in France?" and then she quickly came to her senses and said, "oh yeah right I guess you wouldn't." And then she sat there for a moment mulling it over. I don't think she was stupid. I have the same reaction every year. It seems weird not to celebrate Thanksgiving.

On Thanksgiving day in the US, right before the big meal, Americans always talk about what they're thankful for. I haven't had a real Thanksgiving dinner in about ten years so I haven't had the chance to tell an entire table full of people what I'm thankful for. I do have a blog though so it's kind of like a dinner table.

I'm thankful for my beautiful family, especially my kids who teach me so much about creativity, patience, and unconditional love.

I'm thankful for my husband for taking the time to understand and appreciate me for who I am and for not being judgmental when I don't do something the way he's used to. I know it's been ten years of adjustment for him and instead of being afraid of change he's learned to love everything about me.

I'm thankful for my family in the US who I love and miss a lot this time of year. I have this fantasy that there is a gate in my garden in France that opens up to my parent's street in Florida and I can use it two or three times a month. It's so hard to know that plane tickets prices are constantly going up.

And I'm thankful for my privileged place in the world. Sometimes I ask myself how I got to be so lucky to live in two of the most developed countries in the world. I don't have to worry about food and water. I don't have to feel what must be the worst nightmare in the world for a mother, --worrying about how my children will eat that day. I have everything I could ever want and when I complain about not having a finished bathroom I have to remind myself that there are people who don't even have a home, and some of those people even live in these two developed countries.

Okay I'll sit down now.

Seb is still in China so tonight we're going to do something simple in the dining room. We usually eat in the kitchen because it's easier but the change will feel festive. And as a friend suggested, even if we don't make the whole meal we will have mashed potatoes and gravy in a porcelain dish. I think I have one of those around here somewhere. And like this it won't feel like just any other day.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Halloween cake

This cake is delicious! The recipe is here but I have a few notes to add to it. I used dry shredded coconut and I think it dried the cake out just a little. Reading through comments you have to soak the dried coconut in water for a bit and get it moist. This is very important! Next time I might skip the coconut all together or just use carrots instead. You don't taste the coconut in the cake at all. I believe it serves more as filler than flavor.

I don't have my Little Man for Halloween and this is really disappointing. I had already agreed to vacation dates before I realized he'd be with his grandparents for the holiday. They are anti Halloween like most French so poor little guy is missing out.

I felt awful last night because when I called he was crying so hard he was hyperventilating. I know he only does that when he's really upset or scared or bothered so it worried me. I think he's too young to go off with them for four nights. I was about six or eight when I first started staying the night at my grandparents and they were 15 minutes from our house and I saw them every weekend from the time I was born. I know they want to develop this relationship with him and I appreciate that but I think they need to plan more visits to see us and take it slower. They never want to come and see us. Mother in law already said to Charlotte "Next year ma cherie it will be your turn too!" and I just about choked. The big issue for me is that they let the kids cry it out if they're scared at night and they don't leave night lights on in the dark. The room is really dark because they have rolling shutters. Their rooms are always cold because they don't heat them at night and it's a miserable place to sleep if you're a little person missing your family! Oh and mil has this enormous doll from Bretagne with the tall lace hat on her head in the guest room and it's so scary. She has it sitting in the corner and it freaks me out to even go in there. How the other grandkids sleep in that room is beyond me.

For me Saturday cannot come soon enough! Am I being too overprotective? At what age do you think it's okay for them to go off overnight with relatives or friends?

It's a shame we won't do Halloween this year. Unfortunately I keep missing out on it because it seems we're always on the move. I collected some fun things for decorating while I was in Mexico so I can't wait to break them out next year.

Le reveillon de noel

Christmas Eve dinner this year was at my sister and brother-in-law's house. My niece and nephew are adorable and sister-in-law loves babies and is a wonderful aunt. I got to give my arms a little rest and Little S got to make chaos with his cousins. We ate the entire ocean in one night and ostriche which was delicious!



Seb is a big meanie. He's a low down no good dou-dou theif! His nephew looked for it for 15 minutes before he found it sitting on Seb's shoulder. That is an awful long time sans dou-dou. Maybe Seb should be commended though for keeping it on his shoulder that long--it smells rank!

Mass

Christmas eve tradition--mass with the in laws and a big dinner afterwards.

Merry Christmas from Normandie

Time spent in Normandie with the family...le heure d,apéro, romps with the cousins, breastfeeding by the Christmas tree...yes,yes it's a Christmas tree!

The Christmas trip home

We got our tickets and we get to go home next week for Christmas. Seb´s job accepted the price we found and our girl finally got her Mexican passport (which is adorable by the way).

The only depressing part is Christmas in someone else´s house and leaving our decorations behind. That´s just sad! I spent hours decorating that thing. I have an entire village underneath it that lights up when you plug it in. You have to have that Christmas morning--that and banana pancakes, come on!

Hopefully we can carry some of our family Christmas traditions along with us. Or maybe this is something we can look forward to next year.

Feliz Navidad everyone !

I love, love decorating for Christmas. I mean who doesn´t right? We have three boxes of Christmas ornaments and I followed the movers around when they packed our things making sure they didn´t make a mistake and send them off to storage. It was one of the most important thing about the packing and the moving for me.

We decided to buy a fake tree this year even though it is possible to buy a live one. Somehow it seemed strange to buy a live tree in Mexico though. It seemed sad with all thesee beautiful pines sweltering on the sidewalks, shedding their needles like drops of sweat.

I kind of like my fake tree. I can finally put all my ornaments on the tree without crowding. I could never afford such a large live tree in France. And if I burn a little pine oil nearby on the table you can hardly tell the difference.

I´m going to miss my tree if we head to France for the holidays. Mother in law doesn´t really decorate for Christmas and it won´t be the same.

Meilleurs Voeux!

Poor Little S stayed sick through most of the New Years festivities. He had what seemed like a bad upper respiratory infection. We don't know what it was in fact because all of the doctors were either on vacation or overbooked. We tried to get him in to see someone but it was impossible. I think the entire country was ill. Anyway he seems prone to this type of thing so we had all the medicine in the cupboard already. The poor guy slept for about 16 hours a day. He was not himself at all.

Otherwise for us this year New Years was really nice if not calm. Since we trade off doing it up with our friends each year we had our turn at inviting everyone to our place this year. We were a small crowd this time. I guess that's because French people tend to spend New Years with their parents eating for hours over a large meal. Most of our local friends were off visiting their family in Paris and elsewhere. We still had fun though with just five of us!

On Saturday the 30th we had lunch with our contractor and his wife at their little rented apartment next door to our house. They did it up really nice with a scrumptious rack of lamb, girolles in a sort of port sauce and dessert with champagne. Meanwhile our crew of friends began arriving from Mâcon and Grenoble so we had an excuse to escape. It was a lovely lunch but it felt like they never wanted us to leave the lunch table! They are so hospitable. They even invited our friends in for champagne and dessert and ended up offering them the keys to the spare room apartment downstairs for the weekend. This worked out great because no one had to sleep on the floor in our house. Besides there was a nice indoor shower for the girls.

That evening I made grilled chicken quesidillas for everyone to celebrate our move to Mexico (not that we don't eat Mexican food three times a week anyway or anything...nahhh). Anyway it was fun to introduce some of the food we will be eating while talking about our plans with everyone.

On Sunday the 31st we all went walking by the lakes of La Buenaz not far from our house and 20 minutes up from Evian where you have a lovely view of the water bottling plant, uh err I mean Lac Léman on the drive up. Beunaz is a favorite little walking spot, a quaint pixie forest nestled around two small lakes. It's always a challenge finding the second lake which is hidden off a poorly marked trail behind a lot of trees. Anyway this was the first time I'd ever visited in winter and without the leaves on the trees and it's a lot easier to find the second lake without all the foliage. Everyone thought Dee and I were mad to say we had trouble finding this lake when it was obviously RIGHT THERE, duh!

Here are some photos from our walk in the forest. The dogs had a smashing time skating on the frozen lakes. Ella, Dee's setter kept running back and forth to the other side. It was funny watching her skid like a cartoon dog.













On the way home we stopped by the shores of le Lac Léman (Lake Geneva) to wash the dogs and throw some stones. We were amused and a little shocked to see a couple of drunk guys skinny dipping in the lake right there at the park. I don't know what they were thinking. Not only was it only 3 o'clock in the afternoon on New Years Eve it's was just barely above freezing ! I think they'll be finding themselves sneezing and coughing for the first few days of 2007. They didn't seem to find it at all cold and they even continued walking around barefoot for most of the time they hung out with us trying to impress us with their stone skipping skills and bare butts. Sorry naked drunk guys we have lots of practice skipping stones on Lac Léman and my husband has an extremely nice butt thank you very much!






That afternoon we started preparing our meal. It wasn't complicated. We made a very traditional spread: roasted and stuffed farm chicken, garlic roasted new potatoes, roasted fennel w/ balsamic vinegar & toasted pine nuts and had desserts of carrot cake and fruit salad.* The whole thing started off with an apéritif with our neighbors in the living room. They didn't stay for dinner just cocktails and a few little nibbles. We pawned off our homemade rum concoction on them, something we'd laboured over in the kitchen and most likely will never be able to remember the exact recipe for it ever again. It was so good that our sweet and dainty 85 year old neighbor asked for "more of that very good fruit juice please" Little S was feeling lots better but still coughing a lot so my friend Dee thought to massage his chest and lungs. This is a popular treatment for bronchitis in France and she had watched it being done by a professional once during her years as a nanny. It worked almost too well and poor Dee suddenly found herself with a lap full of mucus and vomit, yuck!





I forgot to get a photo of our pretty table and all the wonderful food. Here's a photo of afterwards; the well stuffed guests and their empty plates.



I have some resolutions this year but I think I'll mull over those on my birthday in a few months. I'm just thankful to have made it through 2006 in one piece. What a year!

*almost all of these recipes came off of Simply Recipes.com