I knew that I had chosen to move far away from home making it difficult to return for holidays.  Even so, in the month preceding I was a bit cautious about spending Christmas away from loved ones.  Heck, Thanksgiving was hard enough (I started crying when I took my first bite of stuffing) but to be away for Christmas?  Impossible! (or so I thought) but Christmas in France, or more accurately my first Christmas away from home and family was so much better than I ever dreamed possible.For the week of Christmas the family I work for and live with decided to go to the South of France to visit relatives while I, on the other hand, stayed at the house in Cheminon.  Because I was going to be in town for the holidays I was invited to join friends at their homes for both Christmas eve and Christmas day which I gladly accepted.

Christmas eve I went to the Fite’s where the seven of us (Hunter, MaryGail, Daniel, John, Luc, Anthony & myself) ate a large meal drawn out over the course of the afternoon.  A long meal with other activities between courses is something that I’ve grown accustomed to here in France.  I like it because there is no rush in eating and it gives the attendees time to enjoy the company.  The first course was smoked salmon served with fromage frais (simular to sour cream) and lemon wedges and adorned with parsley.  Quite good!  Before the second course, a few of us took a short walk.  For the second course we had pork roast and mashed potatoes.  The third course was a lettuce salad and cheeses.  Between the third and fourth course we watched the Nativity movie (in English!!!).  For desert we ate a flowerless chocolate cake with a raspberry goulash.  It was all so good!  That evening we went to church and heard a sermon on Emmanuel, Dieu avec nous (Emmanuel, God with us) – my favorite.

Christmas day I went to the Régnier’s.  Over the course of the day the four of us ate a large meal, my second in two days, played board games and watched the movie ‘Mrs. Santa Clause’.  It was a lot of fun to watch five year old Zoé get extra excited about playing a musical-chairs board game with plastic animals.  Such a wonderful Christmas!!!