Top 12 things I love about Christmas 2011...#7

#7 Dinner at La Table de Thierry


Eating dinner at Thierry's is like being his special guest and eating in his home.  Over the years we have really enjoyed taking the children with us on occasion and having a nice meal.  Thierry now knows what each child likes from their entrees of escargot to making sure he has enough whip cream to go with their favorite dessert, chocolate mousse.  Lauren's favorite part of the meal is Thierry's aligot, a creamy, cheesy, wonderful puree potato side dish that goes great with whatever delicious main course he makes for the evening.  Normally, we have confit de canard (duck) but this night we were treated to veal.  I am not sure whether the children have had veal or not since I don't cook it at home, but if Thierry was cooking it, they were willing to try.  And they loved it, every bite.  It has been a pleasure to watch my children blossom in so many ways, including in their food taste and comfort with speaking french.  We were all right at home at the table of Thierry.

Top 12 things I love about Christmas 2011...#8

#8 My Faux Christmas Tree and New ornaments

This Christmas I decided to go really simple with my decorations.  Our first year we had a live Christmas tree decorating disaster so the following year I purchased an artificial tree.  It has been easy, peasy since then, just take it out of the box, fluff up the needles, string the lights and add a few ornaments.  It is not a spectacular tree in size by any means, but it does keep its color, shape and didn't need watering while we where out of town.  Of course it also doesn't have that Christmas smell, but that's what candles are for.

I have learned that there are few traditions and things that I am used to that have been tweaked since living here in France and the best way to handle that is to just roll with it and adapt.  At least we were able to keep one tradition and that is singing "Silent Night" by the Temptations after the last ornament was hung.  Daniele was in the US when we decorated the tree and called just in time to sing with us.

As far as ornaments go, I was able to pick up a few new ones on our Christmas vacation and this is my favorite one.  Hand carved in crystal it reads "2011 Joyeux Noel the Gray Family".  I purchased it at christmas market in Riquewihr, France along with a few other items.

Top 12 things I love about Christmas 2011...#9

#9  Days off

And after a week on the road just before Christmas, it was nice to sleep in our own beds with no place to go.  Lazy mornings, PJ days, breakfast for lunch, late night movies...what's not to love about Christmas vacation!  Besides, it gave me time to catch up on my blogging :)

Top 12 things I love about Christmas 2011...#10

#10  Christmas Concerts at school and church

These are two other annual events that we have enjoyed over the past 4 years.  This year, John and Maya sang with his 5th grade class, "All I want for Christmas".  Maya did an excellent job leading the song.

I participated in the International choir as we sang favorites like "Silent Night" and "Jingle Bells" in french, english, spanish and german.  The highlight was when a group of parents greeted the audience by saying Merry Christmas in their native tongues.

Lessons and Carols service at church was different this year, but still very nice.  The choir was all female and the service was held in the morning.  I participated in the choir again.  Our interim priest, Father Ted led the children in singing "Go Tell It on the Mountain" while playing the banjo.  

These traditions and activities are not particularly french or american, but are international and vary each year according to the participants and audience.  Just another wonderful thing about this expat experience, we all have something we can contribute and it adds to the unique flavor of our celebrations and holidays that we have in common.

Top 12 things I love about Christmas 2011...#11

#11  Couronne de l'Avent

Each year the parent association at the children's school hosts a workshop for parents to make and decorate couronne de l'Avent or Advent wreaths and then the wreaths are then sold as a fund raiser.  This is my second year participating in this event.  

We start with baked french bread in the shape of a wreath.

Then we cover it with fresh cuttings from christmas trees and tie it down with nylon string.  

The last and final stage is to decorate the wreaths with ornaments, bows and candles.

The reason why I love this event so much is because it gives me the opportunity to work with the other moms of the school, French and International.  Last year I met several ladies that I have continued to work with on other projects and have gotten to know better.  And since my french is constantly improving, I am better able to participate in the conversations that swirl around as we made the wreaths.  There was the usual talk about about raising teenagers in this Facebook age, Christmas plans and anxieties, favorite recipes, etc.  The fun part was I was able to follow along whether the conversation was in french or english, and it went back and forth.  The funny thing is, now that I have a decent level of french, when some of the ladies speak in spanish, I can even pick up a few words.  I have certainly come a long way baby!

This event is a great way for me to express my creative side and speak french.  Of course I later purchase at least one of the wreaths that I make since I make some to match my decor!

Top 12 things I love about Christmas 2011...#12

I have truly enjoyed this holiday break, spending time with family and friends.  It is a bit bitter sweet since this will be our last Christmas in France, but it certainly was relaxing and fun.  We were able to take a vacation visiting Christmas markets in Freiburg, Munich and Fussen, Germany and Riquewihr,France.  Along the way we visited with friends, toured a concentration camp and toured two castles.  We were in search of snow and found it, if only for two days.  Talk about full circle.  We took a similar trip our first Christmas here in 2008.  Christmas in Germany is the absolute best, between the food, the snow, the charming villages and the warm people, it was a great place to start off our Christmas vacation!

So without future ado, here are the Top 12 things I love about Christmas 2011!

#12  Christmas Cookie Swap
The 3rd annual event was the biggest yet and had the bonus of holiday games.  It is always great fun for us ladies to come together and share cookies and cocktails and just start the season off with a little cheer.  The actual baking of the cookies is a bit stressful since it is still difficult to find some of the ingredients that we are used to in our home countries to make some of our favorite recipes like cream of tartar or peppermint oil.  But we just got creative as usual and improvised.  One made cupcakes, another truffles, and the smartest of us all traded a batch of cookies with the resident expat baker for a nail party for his daughter!  Every cookie was not perfect or the most beautiful, but they were delicious and we had a wonderful time playing charades and pictionary of holiday movies and songs.

Plateau Gergovia

I am really enjoying fall in France this year.  The weather is mild for a change so we have been are taking advantage of many of the outdoor activities that are available like walking in the area surrounding Clermont.  During fallbreak a few weeks ago, we drove up to Plateau Gergovia.  It is said to be the site of the Battle of Gergovia between Vercingetorix and Julius Caesar in 52 BC.  Although we have passed this plateau often over the past three years, this was the first time that we actually visited.

Driving up to Plateau Gergovia

memorial to the battle

Puy de Dome

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All Saint's Eve

This year we were in town and were invited to a Halloween party by friends of ours.  Since my crew is getting a bit old for "dress up" clothes, we had to be a bit more creative with our costumes.  I think we did pretty good putting together ideas from everyday items we already owned.  

Lauren was a "Rock Star" with attitude.

Lauren with one of her "fans"

Maya was an "80's party girl" with shoulder pads and all. 

Preston and I decided to "spice" things up and go as Salt and Pepper!  This was the best costume we have had in years and it took all of 30 minutes to put together!  

Check out our "hats"

John was so into his character as a "spy", I never got a clear shot of him!

We all had a good time at the party and there were other creative costumes there as well. 

Southern Lawyer and Nudist on Strike

Ceiling Fan!

80's girls are very popular!

But the best part was hanging out with friends and eating candy.  Preston was even able to bring some American favorites back with him that we generously shared with our friends like Nerds, Sweettarts, and Laffy Taffy since we can't get them here in France.  The candy corn however, did not make it to the party.  I am not that generous.  It is my all time favorite Halloween candy and I had not had any in 2 years.  I had a hard enough time sharing it with my children.

Where's John?  Still in character, hiding in this pic!

Bewitched!

Host and Hostess with the most!

Creepy garage dance party!

DID YOU KNOW?

Trick-or-Treating and Halloween are not widely practiced here in France.  American and English expats are really the only ones that have Halloween parties.  It is difficult to find decorations for Halloween parties or even pumpkins for Jack o Lanterns.  There is one village in our area that has a party every year, but they are a rare exception.  November 1st, All Saint's Day or Toussaint is the holiday and it is observed here in France as a national holiday and businesses and schools are closed for the day.  Most people take time to remember love ones that have died and buy Chrysanthemums to place on the graves, making Mums more of a funeral flower and not a fall decorative plant like we use at home.

Winning isn't everything...

As I mentioned in a previous post about John fencing, he selected this activity last school year, so when he wanted to continue, I didn't hesitate to sign him up again.  Since this would be his second year, he was given the option to participate in competition.  Now this was an answer to prayer for me.  First of all the tournaments are held one Sunday per month, so although they last all day, it wouldn't be every weekend.  Secondly, I felt John needed to learn how to lose and not give up.  

I love my son, but he doesn't take losing well.  He is very competitive and has a Ricky Bobby mentality of "if you ain't first, you're last."  I have tried to talk to him by saying things like, "it doesn't matter whether you win or lose, but how you play the game," or "as long as you try your best, that is all that matters", but it doesn't seem to help.  This is a kid that gets made at the Wii game and accuses it of cheating if he loses.  He is also prone to quit an activity or game that he continually loses instead of listening and learning new strategies to improve his skills.  I was hoping that competition in an activity that he enjoys would not only push him to learn a new skill, but also teach him to not give up just because he is not the best.  I really wanted him to learn that through practice and hard work, he can achieve things as long as he doesn't give up.

Well, the first competition was perfect for teaching him how to lose.   Unfortunately he lost every single match that day.  Disappointed doesn't even begin to describe how he felt.  Not only was he not first, he was actually last.  Preston and his coach were very encouraging, reminding John that this was his first competition and some of his opponents were in their third year and had previously competed.  All I could do was give him a hug and pray that I didn't have to drag him to fencing practice for the rest of the year.  

Fortunately, John is maturing and learning to not give up.  He returned to class the following week determined to learn what he needed to improve in order to do better in the next tournament.  And it paid off!  One month later, John placed 3rd out of 20 in his category.  Competing against fencers from all over the region, he only lost one match in the entire tournament!  John was so proud of himself because he worked hard and it paid off.  

Winning isn't everything, but boy does it feel good!  

John and his coach preparing for the match

John (right)

3rd place medal

look at that smile!

Europapark

Now back to our previously scheduled trip...the next day we were on our way to a fun filled weekend with friends to Europapark, a theme park in Germany. Starting with the mice for mascots, to the park being organized by different countries like Epcot, right down to rides like the tea cups, a pirates of the caribbean type ride and a hunted house, lots of things reminded me of Disney.

Europapark was amazingly clean and well organized and had entertaining shows as well. The biggest difference was that everything was in German. We watched two shows, one in German but with lots of action, so it was easy to follow the story and the other was the music of the Beatles and the cast literally sang the entire show in English of course!

The park is located just over the French border, so a lot of communication was in French as well. Fortunately, the employees wore badges that indicated what language they spoke and between my French and English we were able to communicate. Well there was this one drink ordering incident in which I was relegated back to charades since the server only spoke German. I didn't get exactly what I wanted, but I did get a drink!

I would say my favorite part about this trip was the value. We spent less on two-day tickets to Europapark than we would have on a one day ticket to Disney. And the value continued as far as our hotel and food as well. We were able to stay within 5 minutes walking distance from the park at a very nice guesthouse. It was very family friendly including a nice yard and game room and the price for 3 nights was the same as one night in Paris!

One thing that was not like Disney was the fact that the park closed at 6pm. The great thing about that is we left the park at a reasonable hour and were able to enjoy nice dinners out and go back to our hotel to rest up for the next day instead of trying to stay in the park all night.

Of course the best part of the vacation for my children was the fun we had on the rides. I would say that some of the roller coasters were more thrilling than Disney and much more smooth than coasters at home. I am glad that we all love roller coasters and have the height to ride together. As you can see from the picture, there were lots of thrills!

Maya singing and playing "Marry You"

As I mentioned in one of the previous post, Bruno Mars is Maya's favorite singer. I recorded her singing his song "Marry You" a few day before the concert. She has been taking guitar for the past 2 years and is getting better. I am proud of her for sticking with it and making so much progress. Who knows where she will be in a few years?!

Bruno Mars in Paris! (part 2)

Once we returned to the venue, we were escorted to a small room backstage to wait with a few other fans to meet Bruno Mars. As he entered the room, he was singing "Rollin' in the Deep" and clapping. That really relaxed everyone and created a festive mood. He was very approachable as he talked a bit and took a picture with each person. Maya was just thrilled and couldn't stop smiling. She really didn't say much, but she did note that he called her sweetie.

We remained back stage and got to meet Natalia Kills as well as the other people that Day'nah has been working with. We felt like the celebrities as she introduced us as her family. Everyone, including Natalia stopped to talk to us and to tell us how happy they were to meet the family. Day'nah was just as excited to have us there, as we were to be there.

After the introductions, we went to our seats to wait for the concert to begin. As I mentioned before, the concert was sold out and at this particular venue, the ground floor in front of the stage is standing only. I was very pleased that our tickets were not only seated, but in the center of the section.

Natalia Kills opened and got the crowd going with songs that had strong dance beats. It was a pleasure to see Day'nah on stage doing what she loves and doing it well.

After her performance, Day'nah sat with us and enjoyed the concert. Bruno Mars is excellent live. He has an outstanding band that is full of energy and very entertaining. I think they performed every song on his album and the crowd sang along, Maya being the loudest of course. In fact, most of the footage of the concert that I recorded has Maya singing on it.

Following the concert, we went to go out to dinner before Day'nah's tour bus left for London. It's hard to believe that 17 years ago, she was a flower girl in our wedding and now she is dancing all over the world. We are so proud of you Day'nah and thank you for setting and excellent example for our children to get their education and follow their dreams. Thanks also for making this special night possible.

I made a video of the rest of our pictures featuring one of my favorite songs by Bruno Mars, "Just the Way You Are"