{"id":993,"date":"2011-01-11T14:32:05","date_gmt":"2011-01-11T19:32:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/justrw.net\/blog\/?p=993"},"modified":"2011-01-11T14:32:05","modified_gmt":"2011-01-11T19:32:05","slug":"christmas-eve-in-france-vive-la-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/justrw.net\/blog\/2011\/01\/11\/christmas-eve-in-france-vive-la-difference\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Eve in France – Vive la diff\u00e9rence!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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As I mentioned in a previous post, our Christmas Eve was far from normal this past year! (is 6000 KM far enough?) Even though I usually really enjoy the Christmas Season in general, I did not realize just how much we were perhaps ‘stuck in a rut’! Although we tend as humans to stick with what is most familiar to us, we can miss out on a great deal in life if we do not occasionally move outside of our comfort zone. Doing something totally against the grain will generally cause one of two reactions:<\/p>\n

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  1. You will discover that your old habit was just that! You will broaden your horizon and either gain a new ‘habit’ or at least realize that other alternatives are both possible and\/or desireable<\/li>\n
  2. You will confirm that your ‘traditional’ habit is still the one that suits you the best and the next time you will enjoy it all the more as a consequence.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    [ad#CJSmrtZnBnnr468x60]<\/p>\n

    In retrospect, in our case, it was probably a combination of the two! I can certainly attest to the fact that I will look upon Yuletide in a slightly different fashion from here on in. In general, we are most certainly creatures of habit. However, there is nothing wrong with occasionally creating a new one!\u00a0\u00a0\ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

    \"Xmas<\/a>

    A typical French breakfast to start off Xmas Eve!<\/p><\/div>\n

    Pictured here is a typcial French breakfast. At first glance, it looks no different than what one might expect to see in North America. If you look closely though, you will note some major departures. For starters, the bowls in the foreground, although closely resembling what we would use as cereal bowls, are, in fact for coffee. Bread, brioches or croissants can then be slathered with jam (usually\u00a0NOT buttered)\u00a0and dunked in the brown steaming liquid. Although there are plates present on the table, this was more of a concession to the North American contingent, since the French would not typically use them. Also, the bread is typically ripped apart with one’s hands rather than using a knife.<\/p>\n

    In the centre of the table is a ‘Kugelhopf’, a cross between bread, cake and brioche. It is a traditional Alsatian Christmas treat. It highlights one of the major differences in eating habits between the French and the English: cake and pastries versus eggs and bacon. The French seem to eschew the ‘sal\u00e9’\u00a0at breakfast and stick almost exclusively with ‘sucr\u00e9’.<\/p>\n

    \"Santa<\/a>

    Jolly Old Santa?<\/p><\/div>\n

    Even good old ‘P\u00e8re No\u00ebl’, although somewhat familiar-looking, is not quite what North American children might expect. It looks like the granola-crunchers put him on a diet! Like our Santa, he is dressed in Red and White, but the elves and reindeer are not in evidence. Also, in his hand, he is carrying candy to give to the little kids. Not likely to happen here, I believe…. And to boot, to the more discerning eye, those old scruffy shoes are not what Mrs. Claus would approve of. It turns out that Santa does not have to work quite so hard in Europe in the run up to Christmas either. No midnight madness here! Many stores still close between 12-2PM and close for the day at 7PM, even on Thursdays and Fridays. Mind you, for the last few years in Canada, shopping on the 24th of December was not a bad thing because most people were done and the stores were almost deserted. Not so in France. We went to a small shopping centre for a few last-minute items and could barely find a place to park and lines at the cash were unending.<\/p>\n

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    Back at the table again?<\/p><\/div>\n

    France is probably\u00a0barely different t0 most other countries where Christmas is celebrated. The holiday seems to revovle around food and drink. For ‘R\u00e9veillon de No\u00ebl’, we were invited to celebrate with close family and friends of our son-in-law, Mika\u00ebl, most of whom we had met previously at the wedding 18 months ago. There were about as many similarities to our own ‘normal’ proceedings as there were differences.<\/p>\n