Christmas and everything that goes with it

I barfed all over the armrest of our buff leather sofa. Berk! Oh, that was the last thing I ever wanted to imagine, our precious furniture smeared with filth! To think that whenever my kids eat something that I thought would leave stains on it, I would always be behind them, always after them. But too late, that filthy matter was already there and was already infesting the front room. It was a real mess! And I was totally dismayed at the thought that It was me who caused it. And I had to spend the rest of the morning cleaning up, covering my nose so as not to inhale that offensive odour!

Christmas eve's dinner gave me an awful headache.It's not that I got drank for I don't drink (I'm allergic to antifreeze), It was because we got home at around 4:30 a.m. and went to bed after 5 o' clock (the part I hate the most; tired or not, it is vital to wash up and be done with ceremonies and all before going to bed). I had a great desire to sleep all through the dinner but I had to restrain myself. I mean you know, social etiquette and good manners, hehe. I was actually sleeping with my eyes wide open. *LOL* Since I didn't get enough sleep the night before, I was a kind of zapped all through the night. But I guess I managed to conceal it.

Green Giant's mother has two siblings and having a family reunion during this time of year (just as most families probably do) has become a tradition. This year, the Christmas eve's dinner took place at his aunt's house. Ok, the dinner was far-out but went rather slowly. The kids open the gifts at about 9:30 p.m. and we only started sitting down at the table at around 11 o' clock.

In general, French people, even for a simple dinner, spend at least two hours before getting to the last part of the meal, dessert and coffee. I'm talking about dinner here since, usually, people are at work during the day and they could easily content themselves with a quickie lunch, either grabbing a sandwich from a nearby boulangerie (bakery) or have steak fries in the office's nearest bistrot (a small café especially frequented by regulars). But during the weekend, may it be lunch or dinner, they would make sure to have at least a 4 course meal. So that takes looong.

It was Christmas eve and considered as one of those rare occasions for the whole family to be together, so imagine how long the dinner took before I got the chance to have my cup of 'goodnight' tea.

So here's how the evening went. We arrived barely half an hour late but the Green Giant's other aunt and her family came 40 minutes later. We then had our cocktail drinks with amuses gueules like smoked salmon, lumfish roe mini sandwiches and salted petits fours. We waited about an hour and a half before sending the children upstairs to bring out the gifts and put them under the christmas tree, (to make it look like Santa passed by since our daughter still believes in him) and the funny thing was, though the youngest among Green Giant's cousins is now 12 years old, and of course no longer believes in Santa, they still "played the game", just the same. The magical moment was when our daughter saw all the presents around the christmas tree, she cried out loud, "Merci, Père Noël! (Thank you, Santa Claus).

The first course was the mouth-watering foie gras (duck/goose liver paté) with toasts on the side, next came the scallops in cream sauce served with risotto (Italian rice) and marinated leeks. Then there were different kinds of cheese served, roquefort (a bluecheese), châtelain (this one stinks the most), fromage de chèvre (goat cheese), emmenthal and camembert then followed by a green salad with walnuts. We waited at least an hour before the desserts that included two different flavors (chocolate-praline and coffee-walnut) of bûche de noël (yule log). Then finally, some freshly-brewed coffee but I had tea instead for I was already starting to feel queasy. Since I was already stuffed by the time I finished the main course, I had to force myself with the rest. *burp* (excuse me...)

So instead of sleeping like a log, I spent the rest of the Christmas morning giving our valuable couch a good scrub. No sweat. *sigh* I just need to mellow out and enjoy the rest of the holidays.

Eh? Santa Claus doesn't exist? Comment ça?

These were the questions our daughter posed us one night when we were watching t.v. with her. There was some kind of an ad on t.v. in which every presenter of that certain channel talked about Christmas -- on how they define it etc.. And there was this famous lady announcer stating, "though Santa Claus doesn't really exist, he exists in my heart...etc. etc.". Merde! I thought. I didn't say anything as if I didn't hear it, I just looked at the Green Giant, who, at that time was already looking at me and had this kind of look as though he had just received an unexpected bill, mumbling, Purée!"! Did she hear it?!" Oh oui, our daughter heard it and she questioned us right away about what this stupid lady had just said. It really was a stupid thing to say. Didn't she know that there are a lot of kids who still believe in Santa Claus? And for the people behind this channel, didn't they know that there must be kids watching, for it wasn't bedtime yet? That includes our daughter. We answered her, "Yes he exists, it's not what the lady meant, we don't know why she said that". And I guess, we convinced her.

You might think, so what? no big deal! The issue seems to be eating away at us and that we're exaggerating. No, for us, it's such a big deal. It's something of great importance and we're not exaggerating. For a kid like her, it's like 'magic'. I know how it feels, difficult to describe but I felt it when I was a child. I still remember, my father would ask me and my sisters to put socks under the x-mas tree (though our x-mas tree didn't really looked like one). Although we never received real Christmas presents, there was this 'special' feeling finding the socks full of coins and candies in the Christmas morning. The fact that Santa didn't forget to pass by, that we were in his list, believing him though for a short period of time gave us this 'magical feeling". That was such a highly pleasurable experience and that stays in my heart. *sniff*

Like any other kids her age, she still believes in Santa Claus. We don't make her but LET her believe in him and I know that, in a way, we're being dishonest to her but I guess that that's the way it is.

Christmas, fast approaching...

CHRISTMAS, FAST APPROACHING
4:14 pm dec 17 2004

Our 14-year-old son was so thrilled this morning for it's gonna be the last day of the premier trimester and that starting tomorrow, he's got the right to stay long enough in front of his idiot box with his PS2. Merde alors! (ok, let me translate that...Eh Shit!) But that's fine. We've just received his school report card yesterday and yes! he's got high grades and that made him number 1 in his class. So that's alright.

Christmas day is just a week away and like any other kids, ours are quite excited particularly our almost-4-year-old daughter. She's been so impatient since the day (1st of December) she started with Playmobil's Calendrier de l'Avent Veillée de Noël. There were 24 numbered boxes filled with toys attached to the calendar and she finds it so exciting opening a box everyday to add a new part to her christmas Living Room backdrop. Not only that, she even prepared her list of toys she wishes to receive, put it in an envelope addressed to Santa Claus and mailed it. Ok, I did mail it.

As I'm writing this, oohhh...I can see Santa Claus flying outside. There are gusts of wind and the dummy Santa Claus my neighbor hanged in his terrace just flew away! Poor Santa. *sniff* I think he broke his neck. I can also see my empty flower pots blowing around in the wind. It's raining and the wind blows (at least) 120 kms/hour. That's too much for the Green Giant. That's why he didn't take his motorcycle to work. Intelligent decision.

Mince! can't have a lie-in tomorrow for tomorrow's gonna be a very busy day for me. Since most of the department stores are closed on Sundays, I've got to rush around for I still have lots of things to buy before Christmas (that's if my wallet permits me, hehe...). I don't know why but when it comes to Christmas shopping I always (seem to) wait for the last minute.I hope I won't get involved in one of those stupid fights. Two weeks ago, there's this department store that was giving 50 percent off on toys. Even the most expensive ones, were half-priced. Trouble was, there were people who were stealing from other people's trolleys when they found out that there was none left on the shelves. Pigs! So I just hope that there won't be nasty surprises for me tomorrow for the DP is giving 50 percent off on lingeries. Yippee!

Giving it a try

I created this blog yesterday but I was a bit hesitant to do the posting right away for I wanted us to have a lazy dinner and that I already had to start the cooking. The Green Giant was miraculously home early. Then I finally told myself, c'est bon , posting can wait.

We, by the way, had couscous for dinner. Well it's a dish originating in North Africa, consisting of semoule (semolina), served with a meat stew. I put chicken legs, lamb chops, merguez sausages and some vegetables. It usually comes with harissa sauce (hot sauce). I got one from Tunisia. Well I might just post the recipe some time.

I still remember when we were still living in Paris, almost always, we found ourselves dining in this restaurant, "Cafe Modern", devouring couscous. But after several calculations, I found out that we've been spending so much for something I knew I can cook at home. Considering I love to cook, oh, 'love' is such a strong word. Well, considering I CAN cook, I thought of trying to prepare this dish at home. Pourquoi pas?'. Why not? All I just needed was to find a recipe for this or just improvise (I knew then about the ingredients). And there was the Green Giant saying, "Fais attention (be careful), there's gonna be lots of splattering and washing in the kitchen!". He was right but my first attempt turned out to be just fine. The color and the thickness of the sauce looked like it and most importantly, it tasted like it. ehem.

You might ask, why does the Green Giant love couscous that much? Arabo ba siya? No, he's not. He's French, pure. Pure daw o! It's just that he's not difficult to please. He's not choosy. He just loves to eat though his physique doesn't show it (he's lanky) hehe... I can always prepare something new for him and he'd end up saying,"mmm... that was good." But, oh, by the way, the only thing he won't take into his mouth and swallow is our very own, balut. Neither would I, just can't blame him.

oh mince!