Stories Collected While Living in France

French la Vie

Since You Asked

A few of you have asked me to answer 25 things about Christmas. I thought I might as well put it on my blog. If you want you can answer them too in the comment section. Copy and paste, the 25 questions or a few of them, erase my responses and answer your own.

 

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Both, with ribbons that I keep year after year.

 

2. Real tree or artificial?  Fake.

 

3. When do you put up the tree?  Around the 15th of December.

 

 4. When do you take the tree down?  Twelve or so days after Christmas…a day or two after Epiphany.

 

 5. Do you like eggnog? Love it and miss it as I cannot find it in France. I have made it , but actually, I do not miss the calories.

 

6. Favorite gift received as a child?  A Mickey Mouse watch

 

7. Hardest person to buy for?  Someone I do not know.

 

8. Easiest person to buy for? My daughter, her list helps.

 

9. Do you have a nativity scene?  Yes, it is called a creche in French and the nativity is an entire village of « Little Saints » called Santons.

 

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Neither. How bad is that!

 

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I know I should be grateful for every gift received. I know it is the thought that counts…. But when the thought is « Paper Napkins »  and everyone else received a gift certificate of a hearty sum of money…well…. I did not appreciate the thought, nor the gift.

 

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?  Prancer, and A Wonderful Life

 

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?  December 15th or so. I like the rush.

 

 14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?  Yes, isn’t Brocante recycling at its finest?

 

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?  Champagne and Jean’s Christmas Pudding.

 

16. Lights on the tree?  Yes. White sparkling ones.

 

17. Favorite Christmas song? Raffi’s Christmas Songs they remind me of when Chelsea and Sacha were little, also "Oh come oh come, Emmanuel"  

 

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Most often than not we stay at home. But I wish we could go Home to the States every year.

 

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's?

Rudolph the red nose one, Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen… thanks to Google.

 

20. Angel on the tree top or a star?  It changes each year, a star, an angel, a bow, a holy card…

 

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas eve … but when I was a child I use to open all my gifts before Christmas and re-wrapped them. I still do that sometimes… my family knows that about me. So they hide my gifts.

 

22. The most annoying thing about this time of the year? That in the USA Christmas decorations appear in October.

 

23. Favorite ornament? I love opening the Christmas boxes and welcoming the little ole friends, retelling stories about the ornaments… my favorite one is a red and white polka dotted glass mushroom.

 

24. Do you make Christmas cookies? No… but I do make a Christmas log cake.

 

25. What do you want for Christmas this year?  Besides Good health, and peace… »Honey-Dos »

Comments

15 responses to “Since You Asked”

  1. Leigh NZ

    The giver of paper napkins is no friend! XX
    Haha you and I do many of the same Christmas things.

    Reply
  2. g

    corey I love this….an insight to how you holiday-

    Reply
  3. Marilyn

    Love your answers, it makes me smile.

    Reply
  4. Kathie B

    In defense of paper napkins, under special circumstances: Some years ago I sent a Steelers fan in California a package each of Steeler paper napkins, paper plates and cups in team colors (black and gold), to use while holding a viewing party for their favorite team in the Super Bowl (and the Steelers won!).

    Reply
  5. g

    me too!

    Reply
  6. Chris Wittmann

    That’s alot of questions to answer so I’ll just do a few 🙂
    We ALWAYS buy a real tree, the smell is just heavenly.
    It goes up the weekend after Thanksgiving, but this year we’re late…will put it up this coming weekend for sure
    I leave it up until it starts looking shabby, probably mid January!
    German butter cookies including Speculaas are always a must in my house…
    along with English Christmas pudding and Italian bread pudding…can you tell I am foregoing my “diet?”
    We open our gifts and celebrate Christmas on Christmas eve, it’s an old German tradition that my mom continued and I do too
    My favorite ornament is a little turquoise wool teddy bear made for me by an elderly neighbor when I lived in England
    Favorite Christmas movie..Christmas Vacation with Chevy Chase, I laugh every time I see it
    Food?? I usually cook a turkey with all the trimmings
    LOVE eggnog, we have a fabulous farm that makes their own from raw cow’s milk (with all the cream) and it’s so delicious
    What I want for Christmas?..an old fashioned greenhouse, but I’ll settle for an antique or two 🙂

    Reply
  7. Kathie B

    Oops: I forgot to mention the best part of the gift package: A genuine Terrible Towel! This was back in the days before it was possible to order all this stuff online.

    Reply
  8. Taste of France

    Amen on the eggnog. It’s a mixed blessing we don’t find it here.

    Reply
  9. TEXAS francophile

    Merry Christmas to all!
    We have a fake tree, first 20yrs we had real
    Wrap gifts unless odd shape and need a gift
    Christmas Eve dinner we eat gumbo, Christmas Day beef tender and cheese grits
    Love eggnog but only a shot glassful
    Fav ornament- one that my Mother won (in the 70’s) for coming in highest score at bridge
    Open one gift when we come in from church on Christmas Eve night. The rest Christmas morning
    Stay home for Christmas, although one year I’d like to take a cruise
    Yes make all kinds of cookies, attend a cookie swap every year
    Besides peace on earth and peace in Washington DC, I’d like an iPad Pro.

    Reply
  10. Arnelle Louise

    You will not believe this….but every year my husband hides small box of my favorite ornaments…and guess what they are?
    Vintage red and white polka dot glass mushrooms!…next time you see him ask about them!!

    Reply
  11. Dd

    Lovely!
    What is t traditional Christmas dinner?

    Reply
  12. g

    and to you and all whom you love-MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

    Reply
  13. Chico Sue

    I love learning more about you and the others on your blog. My birthday is January 6th and when I was little I believed my family was keeping the tree up until after that to celebrate ME, until I understood that it was because of Epiphany!
    When my son married a woman who was not raised with any formal religious training, I gave them a Nativity set that I has made for my son when he was a small child. She was delighted to have it but thought it was called an “Activity Scene” because it was full of action figures. We tried to control our laughter as we explained, the story of the birth of Christ and we identified all the other figures surrounding Him. It has become one of our favorite Christmas stories now and I love thinking of Jesus, Mary and Joseph as action figures!

    Reply
  14. Leigh NZ

    Paper napkins and matching accessories; the recipients must have been thrilled. I always enjoy your responses to my comments. Merry Christmas.

    Reply
  15. Jan D-M

    1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Both, but my favorite is simple brown packing paper with simple ribbon or string.
    2. Real tree or artificial? Must be real, a holdover from growing up in Maine, although my parents had fake trees. My parents had a silver tree with the spiraling colored lights for years and years.
    3. When do you put up the tree? Gosh, with such a busy season, it can sometimes be tough. This year, we got it the first Sunday of Advent. It’s the PERFECT tree—not too tall and not too wide. We don’t have large rooms.
    4. When do you take the tree down? Usually wait until Epiphany…unless the tree is too dry and the needles are falling off.
    5. Do you like eggnog? Give me wine.
    6. Favorite gift received as a child? A hope chest handcrafted by my dad that he unexpectedly built two weeks before Christmas because an old boyfriend put a bug in his ear as to what I hoped for. My parents had already purchased my new cross country skis, so I scored big that year.
    7. Hardest person to buy for? My daughter-in-law. She never gives clues yet loves when she receives something personal to her.
    8. Easiest person to buy for? Same as you—My daughter, her list helps.
    9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes. We have several we have collected over the years, but my favorite is a stained glass one that a member of a former church made for us (and she made us swear not to tell her business parter who was a penny pincher).
    10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Neither. Every year, I say I will “this time!”, but never seem to get to. And I do so love receiving the cards and annual letters from others.
    11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? A decorative candle set that was sent by a parishioner a few days after she and her husband held a “secret” meeting of other church members in an attempt to fire my husband. (Can you hear the dirty words circling my brain still, after almost 19 years?).
    12. Favorite Christmas Movie? White Christmas because it reminds me of my dad, The Colonel; National Lampoon Christmas Vacation because we have a crowd in every year to watch it (party starts at 6pm on Friday…hope you can make it); It’s A Wonderful Life because…it’s wonderful.
    13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? January 1 and continues all year.
    14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Not yet!
    15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Crepes with strawberries and whipped cream on our “Christmas morning” which is usually the weekend before official Christmas morning and for the first time last year, I attempted a tourtière like my dad always made. My kids have stated it is now a tradition.
    16. Lights on the tree? Absolutely white lights.
    17. Favorite Christmas song? “Mary Did You Know,” which was the song I always sang at church each year until thyroid surgery put an end to that six years ago. It hurts my heart to remember.
    18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? For years, we would pack up our kids to travel from Indiana to Maine for Christmas Eve with family. We finally claimed the holiday for our own and stay home. We celebrate our family Christmas on a date other than Christmas so that our kids can claim Christmas morning for their own young families and so they don’t feel they need to compete or feel divided in trying to make other extended family happy. Win-win.
    19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer’s?
    Rudolph the red nose one, Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen… thanks to Corey.
    20. Angel on the tree top or a star? A paper angel my son made in Kindergarten 25 years ago.
    21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? We gather together on our mock Christmas Eve and the kids and the grandchildren spend the night. We open our gifts on”Christmas” morning. We linger over stocking stuffers first, with each person opening one gift at a time and making up guesses as to what’s in that toothpaste-shaped gift. Then a big breakfast with those crepes and other goodies, and finally we open presents, with each person taking a turn until all gifts are opened. We linger over opening the gifts, extending our into the early afternoon. Then we ALL take a nap before the kids head home.
    22. The most annoying thing about this time of the year? The annoying issue that resurfaces every year about “Happy Holidays” vs “Merry Christmas.” Time for my soapbox—as a practicing Christian, I think Christians who make a big deal out of this are not secure in their faith.
    23. Favorite ornament? I also love revisiting with the old friends, too. My favorite is a small one made by a college friend—a small pillow with a needlepointed heart. It is always the first one I put on the tree. My college friend is just a sweet, tender, and genuine person and remembering her always makes me happy.
    24. Do you make Christmas cookies? Sometimes. Probably more often now that I have grandchildren. (And Corey-whose-mother-always-makes-special-cookies doesn’t make cookies? That makes me giggle).
    25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Besides Good health, and peace… time in St Zacharie and, hopefully, brocante shopping and wine with some dear friends. xoxo

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Privacy Policy - Terms and Conditions