Christmas . . . it's all good.

We hope you all had a Merry Christmas with friends and family!  We sure did.

We Take a Walk Through the Vineyards on Christmas Eve
(The Weather has been Fantastic)

Ford in Hunter's Blind
(They Hunt Birds in the Vineyards)

Preparing Stuffing Christmas Eve

Preparing Turkey Christmas Eve

Sleigh Ride In Town

Calleche (Our Friend Lea From Horsing Assists Santa)

Our Friends Lucile, Leo and Lucile's neice

Building a Fire!

Christmas Table

Christmas Table Different View

Puppy's First Christmas

No Caption Required

Stockings

Toasting Christmas

Setting Out for a Christmas Day Walk

 Crestet (Summit of Christmas Day Walk)

Chateau on Christmas Day

Pere Noel Has Arrived!

This just in, from the Avignon train station:

Ford Is Eleven

Ford has eleven years to his credit!  Bravo, Ford.  Felicitations!

On the 19th, his birthday proper, Ford was busy horsing.  That night we had some friends over for dinner, and Ford received a gift and a cake.

On the 20th, we invited a few of his friends to a local cafe for ice-cream.

Killian, Ford, Tristan

Asha and Nicolas

Ford's favorite cafe is "Le Refuge Des Pirates." 
Here's one of the pirates partying with Ford.

After that, we strolled to the cinema for "Happy Feet 2."

And, it ain't over yet, because when his papa arrives, it's another celebration!

Pere Noel Is Coming: Second Installment

We're continuing to enjoy Christmas preparations.

Last week the school had its own "Marche de Noel," selling crafts that the children made and hot cocoa.  My children were very proud of their efforts, and we snapped up their projects for a mere fifty centimes each!

 School courtyard

Sapin de Noel

Marche

Treasured pine cone creation

I call this, "Candle on a Decorated Plank."  It makes a nice centerpiece.

Next, the children assembled for some caroling.  There is something magical about high children's voices singing carols in French and resonating through crisp night air illuminated by pretty lights.  It was nice.

There's a recognizable chanteuse!

Though we are grandparent-less this Christmas, there has been a stand-in.  Madame Jeannine Henriot is a charming, kind woman who takes grandparenting very seriously, even of American grandparent-less children.  She invited us over on Sunday and we played traditional French card and boardgames and listened to traditional French children's carols.  She wants us to have a traditional experience- bless her, because so do we!  Then, in true grandparent fashion, she ushered me out of the house to my Christmas concert in the town Cathedral, while she fed my children crepes.  They managed also to gorge themselves on chocolates.  Here are some of the scenes:

Playing "Nain Jaune" (Yellow Elf- which appears to be a nonsequitor in terms of the game.

There are no elfs involved, yellow or otherwise).

Entering the Cathedrale at 4:00- I left in the dark.

Awaiting the chorus after nabbing a great seat!

They sang Mendelsson, Mozart and Christmas carols.  The carols are all the same music we know, but different words.  When I saw "White Christmas" on the list, I licked my lips for some English (with a French accent, all the better).  But alas, they had French words for that one, too!

This week the kids have two pony camps.  Ford is excited for tomorrow's, which will have some trail riding.  Yesterday, they did the maxi-trot-- lots of fast trotting.  And they hunted for treasure at the farm.

Asha reads a clue she found on Pere Noel.



Ford holds the treasure- off they go!

As you know, the season is tiring.  I will leave you with a shot of two pooped puppies:



Pere Noel Is Coming

Provence is getting ready for Pere Noel.  All the towns in Provence are lit up with their own special light displays.  A dark, vibrant blue is a prominant color and is very dramatic. In Vaison, there are white lights across the new bridge, and then a combination of blue and white in town.  Some of the blue ones appear to be dripping out of the huge plane trees as droplets light up in succession.  There are clusters of "sapin de noel" around town, and pretty displays in the windows. 

We asked our friends how to find a sapin de noel and what they would be like.  Most of our friends use-- gasp--artificial trees!  They said there would be some out at the supermarket.  We found that to be pretty slim pickings, even considering we expected them to be small.  You can of course buy a living tree, our friends had suggested.  Yes, a living tree.  That sounds good.  So we determined to go to Gamm Vert ("Green Thumb"), the nursery and pet store.    First, we made the novice mistake of going on a Sunday.  How could we?!  Did we just get off the boat?  We obviously had to wait for a more appropriate day to buy a Christmas tree.  So Wednesday was good for us, there being no school and all, and Gamm Vert being open (so long as we did not go between noon and 2:00, which we would never attempt.)

Gamm Vert had what we were looking for:

 
This was the tree display.  They were not leaving the store by the truckloads, but it was a nice collection of pre-cut trees, and back behind AJ's head are the potted trees.  The pre-cut trees are ordinarily stuck into a slab of wood as a stand, we deduced.  We weren't prepared to have a tree that couldn't drink.  We took one of the potted trees. 

And I got a big beautiful poinsetta.  (Nevermind that we left it at the caisse (cash register) and I had to come back for it twenty minutes later . . . .)

I interrupt this blog to report a Pere Noel sighting.

Common at this time of year are the "Marches de Noel."  These are similar to the regular marches, but have special Christmas gifts, delicacies and decor.  Here the kids are outside a small one in Rasteau:

And here we are enjoying a lovely outdoor Marche de Noel with Asha's friend Camille and her mother and brother in Vacquyeras:

Hey, wait a minute.  That's not "us."  Okay, here we are: