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.
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.
posted by Bokbok @ 5:32 PM
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