La Fête de Noël

The last few weeks of the year mean very long hours, grueling decision-making, and all the pressure that goes with closing the year in the world of business. That is a big reason we are spending the Christmas holidays here, away from family. Yet, I think we made the best of it and tried to savor the moments as best we could. As hard as it is to not watch four little granddaughters open gifts and delight in the magic, we instead looked at the opportunity to be thankful for all of the blessings that we do have.

Christmas Eve began with being asked to share some champagne with our neighbors a few floors down. We came back to a simple dinner of turkey breast, with candles and Christmas carols playing on the ipod (no Christmas carols here on the radio that I could find).....

We didn't even have time to eat the traditional "yule log" that appears everywhere in the patisseries......

We walked briskly in the crisp cold air to our church, noticing a quiet and empty Rue Cler. But the church was full of people from all over the world, visitors, ex-pats, and those who call Paris home. It was a beautiful and simple service with traditional carols, readings, and of course, candles. They still let us hold candles and sing Silent Night here.

Christmas Morning......no Santa here.....but a small breakfast of muffins and fruit. I had received the special muffin mix from my friend Katherine, brought it all the way from the U.S., and saved it. They don't really do muffins here, so finding a muffin tin was not possible. I had to settle for tartlette tins, which worked just fine.

Yes, it is a tiny breakfast. That's because we were saving our appetite for a brunch we had decided to try at a hotel on the right bank. Finding somewhere special for a Christmas meal was not easy....everything was booked well in advance at the few restaurants that were open.

The sun was shining in clear blue sky, and when sun shines here in Paris in the winter, the temperature drops......below zero......centigrade that is. We bundled up and walked across the Seine to Rue George V to experience a French brunch.

Well, the meal was something else! There was a huge table filled with seafood, foi gras, salads, tiny eggs from some bird, and every crustacean you can think of! Now, I have a hard time with whole shrimp and crablegs (Lyle called the shrimp stuck into a pineapple "shrimp soldiers" and the crablegs so artfully poised "dancing crabs"), but I tried my best to sample a lot of unknowns.....including caviar and gelled and moussed SOMETHING......

(Sorry the picture is blurry, but I snapped it quickly because I didn't want to look like such a tourist!) Can you see the shrimp soldiers and dancing crabs?

Dumb me....I loaded up my plate thinking this was the whole brunch, until Lyle pointed out three other tables. One was full of cheese, another the main meal of turkey, prime rib, potatoes, eggs and sausage....and the last one full of desserts!

It was a feast, and I am happy to say my stomach was able to handle the exotic foods. That wasn't the case, unfortunately, of an American woman we met at the next table, who ended up in the hospital with "the tourist" as the French call it......something didn't agree with her.

We ended the day walking the Champs-Elysses with thousands of others probably walking off their meals....

......and went to see the movie, "Australia", which was in English with French subtitles.

We ended the holiday weekend with seeing another movie "Luther", walking by Notre Dame to see the big Christmas Tree.....

.....watching the skaters at the "Hotel de Ville" (City Hall).....

...... and ending the evening with a ride on the giant ferris wheel at the Concorde, which gave us a beautiful view of the city of lights.

Yes, we missed being "home" for Christmas, but found that experiencing something new and different, maybe even a little less chaotic, can always be a good thing too. But I think we both hope that NEXT year will be in Minnesota.