December 25-26, 2022
The Christmas Day celebration involved Aline-Cedric-Mia, and Lucienne (aka LuLu), Francis sister. The very first thing we did was to watch the news clip about the “Polar Plunge.” There was an excellent view of Sarah flopping backwards into the water.
As usual, we had l’apéritif. We opened presents. I gave presents but didn’t take pics of them. I know you’re getting tired of the same song with a different verse.
Mug rugs for Aline made by Louise, Sarah’s mom.
A drawing of Mia by Sarah
A painting for Mia done by Sarah.
Here is the painting, done by Sarah, and the wall hanging, made by Louise that Sarah gave Fabi yesterday.
OK, the food….excellent, of course. Foie gras and salmon…2 different dishes, not one.
The next course was leg of lamb…. With a kind of couscous and a creamed bean dish. I don’t know the kinds of beans. They looked like baby lima beans but didn’t taste like them.
The cheese platter was provided by LuLu. It was ENORMOUS!!!! We hardly put a dent in it.
There was one round of cheese that had a little “guillotine” which I thought was clever, but then I learned that you turn it, not chop it, and it scrapes off the top layer of the cheese into the shape of a flower…in theory. I have a picture and a short video but I’m not sure the vid will work for you.
For dessert, we had Buche de Noel. (My keyboard is not typing all the marks it needs.) This is a log of ice cream. Incredible! One was chocolate and one was vanilla.
OK, I’m done with food for Christmas. Our conversations were ordinary. My French is getting better….or at least easier. It’s taken me a week to get into the groove. Now I want to stay longer just to work on French. Verbs and Pronouns!!!! What a problem.
Now on to December 26….
We left a little after noon for Sonia’s place. Sonia is Fabi’s sister. I hadn’t seen her yet. There were 22 people there for fun and festivities.
Here’s a quick rundown of the food. Better, yet, I’m getting a bit overwhelmed, So I’ll just show you the pics. You’ve seen it all anyway….
OOPS. I guess I missed some courses. The ice cream cake was awesome. Half of it was layered with chocolate, caramel and coffee ice cream. The other half was banana, plum and vanilla. Frosting on top and little meringues around the side. Claude, who is Veronique’s husband, is a baker so he made it. There were cookies, too. I tried an anise one. Sonia made them with powdered anise instead of liquid so they were not white inside like the ones I make.
Sarah and Jade discovered that they are both 17-year old artists.
We played around with our presents.
Part of the day was bitter sweet for me. Many times I’ve been to France and to Strasbourg. I usually stayed with Jeannette and Rene. Jeannette is the one who was so patient with my lack of French the first time I came and was so supportive of my endeavors to learn. She also liked the history of places and showed me all the nooks and crannies of Strasbourg and told me their stories. She died during COVID time. I think it was because no one could come visit her in the assisted living place. Today, I really missed her and Rene. They lived in the downstairs apartment from Sonia, who owns the house. I was remembering all the good times I had there. It’s now time for the next generation to step in, so her son, Christophe bought the house in the courtyard. This first picture shows the house where Jeannette and Rene lived and the second is across the little courtyard is where Christophe and his family live.
We left early—before 6:00. Back at the house, Fabi and I talked about the people in our lives who had died. Not a super good topic for the holidays but since we both miss her parents, Jeannette and Rene, it was a good conversation.
Franck and Saundra came over for a little while to pick up some left-over cheese from yesterday. It’s Franck’s addiction so the cheese goes to a good home. I think I will see them again when we go to Europa-Park next week.
For now it’s time to stop and hit the sack. Tomorrow, I think we go to Petite France.
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