Not remotely Christmassy here....

[mint]

Does anyone else think that?  Or is it all lights and baubles and bubbly where you are?

This all feels very strange, even weird.  I have done NOTHING and I mean not a single thing towards Christmas.  Well, no, not quite correct.  OH got out the ceramic tree given to us by the talented potter we knew decades ago and wanted to put it in its usual place on our rather nice chestnut "bahut" where it goes to enable its lights to be reflected in the large mirror on the wall behind.  So, my contribution was whisking off the embroidered cloth on the surface and dusting off all the dead flies and other insects and I even polished the mirror.  Can't remember when I last exerted myself so much[:-))]

Forgot all about Christmas then until this afternoon when, after my kiné session, the man said he couldn't see me next Thursday as it would be the 24th.  Imagine my shock and horror, how could I have got to today in my state of stupor?

 

Oh well, still have Idun's moist fruit cake recipe and I daresay I could whip round the shops in the next few days.

I also think it's not just the peculiar year we have had, we are now threatened with a troisième vague of the virus.  I darsay the head of the French health service is a reliable enough source of that information?

[Judith-aka-Judith]

Likewise, Mint, how can it be Christmas a week tomorrow?  Mind you apart from Christmas trees around (in the Doctor's surgery this morninging for example) I've seen no other decorations, not that I've been out much .. only medical stuff has been dogging my steps  .. though I did go do a good pre-Christmas shop of those things I can buy in good time .. cakes etc . stollen .. which won't go off .. but we shall be on our own, having had to cancel our planned Christmas break in Spain (border will be as such not be  open to tourists at that time!) so I've even lost that impetus now. Weird year indeed!

[mint]

Judith, don't you admire how the medical people in France work till Christmas Eve and then restart  Boxing Day?  They even do that in the big hospitals and clinics.

The year I was having radiotherapy, I had an appointment on the 26th to have my tattoos and the treatment started a day or two later.

BTW, are you doing OK with your treatment?  I will get round to emailing or PMing you er.....after Christmas is all over[:D]

[EuroTr@sh]

mint wrote the following post at 17/12/2020 21:39:

Judith, don't you admire how the medical people in France work till Christmas Eve and then restart Boxing Day?

Put like that, it sounds like all the emergency and intensive care staff have Christmas Day off as well....! don't think so. I know what you mean though. I do admire all medical workers enormously, they make me feel very humble.

Anyway here in Wales we decided here we would put up a Christmas tree, and fairy lights, to try and cheer ourselves up a bit. And I'm glad we did, it's nice to switch the lights on of an evening and sit quietly looking at them and silently reminding ourselves to be grateful for what we have. We're not doing Christmas presents but we've bought ourselves a few "treats" that we wouldn't have bought otherwise. We like playing board games and we also like watching our garden birds so on recommendation we have bought Wingspan, it is under the tree and we're looking forward to playing that. The village has put up a Christmas tree and several of the houses in the centre of the village have gone to town on illuminated garden decorations, I don't know if that's as per usual or not because I'm not normally here at Christmas. So in my head I know it's Christmas, but what's missing is the thinking back over last year and looking forward to next year because I don't want to think back, and I daren't look forward.

[mint]

Yes, ET, I wasn't talking about the emergencies and 24-hour jobs.  THEY certainly never stop.

I was just thinking about routine stuff which all seemed to stop for days on end in the UK.  Leaving medical people aside, I remember people such as office staff, who would be off from Christmas Eve to after New Year's Day.  The anglos- saxons, UK and US people, appear to love Christmas, spend a lot of dosh and a lot of time eating and drinking. 

Don't know about the Germans, they seem to go to great lengths to celebrate Christmas though not this year of course.  I have a German friend who lived alone for years (though she now has Papa Peter chez elle) and her house at Christmas always made me stop in wonder.....the trees the lights, the way the table was laid.....just lovely and never seems over the top to me as I have often been a guest of her hospitality[:)]

[Weegie]

Much of the UK Christmas was imported from Germany by Albert.[:)]

[idun]

The week before xmas 2001 we had a holiday in Brittany. On or way up we used some smaller roads and in villages there were 'santas' crawling up walls, or on roofs.

I found it definitely spooky. The following year, they appeared in my village too.

Our village always had 'some' lights up, at first they were so pathetic that one wondered why. Then some better ones years later. The towns used to be quite well decorated and some of our local cities were lovely.

Due to shutters and most people having xmas trees, one could not see how well, or not, their homes were decorated.

Here, in NE England there are lots of homes that have the whole house lit up. It is vulgar , and JOYOUS, and makes me smile. And last week, I saw the best ever lit xmas tree  in someone's garden, magnificent it was.

And if people haven't done the outside of their homes up, curtains are open and xmas trees on display in the windows.

Should be a live link!

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/gallery/north-east-christmas-light-displays-19388405

[NormanH]

https://www.facebook.com/ville.debeziers/videos/321003725554219/

[Weegie]

"The week before xmas 2001 we had a holiday in Brittany. On or way up we

used some smaller roads and in villages there were 'santas' crawling up

walls, or on roofs."

Round here it's not unusual to see Santas still crawling up the walls at Easter.  In fact I think some leave theirs up practically all year.[8-)]

[Lori]

I do enjoy the tree we got this year.  It is one of our prettier fresh trees.  The lights look really festive on it.  The poinsettias we bought at the market are very good quality and very pretty, so that is festive too.

The town where we currently live puts lots of lights around the center of town.  Beautiful fresh trees all over town.  However, ALL of the lights are one blue color.  The same color as ambulance lights.  It looks really, really odd to me and not Christmassy at all.  Especially this year.  Seen enough ambulance lights.  Not sure why they couldn't have chosen a nice warm white or even multi-colored lights.

When we lived in the U.S., the lights were almost always on the verge of insanity.  I can't even imagine paying some of those electric bills.  Of course, some were nicely done, but too many were not.

It is always hard for me to get into a 'festive' mood at Christmas.  I find too many people are at their worst this time of year, for whatever reason.  I don't like crowds (even  more so this year), so I try to avoid them.  That can put you in a bad mood. 

[suein56]

Lori wrote the following post at 18 Dec 2020 17:05:

I do enjoy the tree we got this year. It is one of our prettier fresh trees. The lights look really festive on it.

The town where we currently live puts lots of lights around the center of town. However, ALL of the lights are one blue color. The same color as ambulance lights. It looks really, really odd to me and not Christmassy at all.

Ah .. the blue Christmas lights .. for some reason this blue hue is pretty well everywhere in France. Personally I love them for being beautifully calming and different .. but there you go ?.

[Judith-aka-Judith]

[quote user="mint"]

Judith, don't you admire how the medical people in France work till Christmas Eve and then restart  Boxing Day?  They even do that in the big hospitals and clinics.

The year I was having radiotherapy, I had an appointment on the 26th to have my tattoos and the treatment started a day or two later.

BTW, are you doing OK with your treatment?  I will get round to emailing or PMing you er.....after Christmas is all over[:D]

[/quote]

Hi Mint, was replying earlier, then I had to go to the nurse to remove stitches after another "petite intervention" 2 weeks ago, much more comfortable now .. doing OK, but it's been over 6 months now, and no end in sight - yet!  Works more slowly than chemo or radio .. but there we are .. just my luck, but it was such a dark morning today (I nearly said mucky, but only northerners would know what I mean by that!) and I saw that we have lights in the village, and  some kind of deco on the roundabout as you arrive .. more tasteful then last year (new maire), but as Lori said, in blue .. not very festive!

The fact the France doesn't as such close down at Christmas always surprises me .. we arrived here one year, before we lived here, on holiday, to Carcassonne (though as we now say Carca) for Christmas travelling though snow and ice .. and a shunt, and so to find the local Volvo franchise on Christmas Eve.  Car was driveable, but had lost a head light and had an interestingly shaped bumper, so we thought it better to mend rather than spend the hols without ... come back on 26th and I can do it he said .. and he did.  Now THAT would never have happened in the UK.   That was a holiday and half .. starter motor packed up on the way back, in the New Year, in Figeac .. come back tomorrow, I can mend it then ...and once again - he did!  Memories are definitely made of this!

[idun]

On our local news channel they reported from a tree plantation where people could hire their xmas tree for a few weeks, told how to care for it and then took them back to be replanted, or however, they are grown.......... idun who knows NOWT about growing stuff  [:$]   [Www]

Sounded like a good idea.

[Judith-aka-Judith]

Idun, well if you can move and replant vines, as we did with one of ours, and yes, it survived and is now a good one again ..I see no reason why not with trees, as long as they still have their roots ... though here at least and also I saw in Westminster before we left, they do shred the trees, of all sorts, and it comes out as sawdust, which I presume is used for building materials, insulation etc.  But the recycling to grow again is an even better idea .. if feasible.

[Gardian]

No, not very Christmassy here either, since we’d normally travel to the UK about now to be with family and visit friends over Christmas and the NY. We decided in mid-October that it was a non-runner and so we’ve been resigned to it for some time, rather than recently disappointed.

It’s all OK though. Our elder son, DIL and grandson will be fine in the Thames Valley (although the news coming out as I write this doesn’t sound great!) and our younger son is looking forward to his time in the Czech Republic with his girlfriend and her family.

Some good news though! Our Commune always has a ‘Repas des Aines’, which is a superb 6-course lunch held in the village hall and dealt with by a very professional caterer. Of course that’s off this year, although if they’d gone ahead, it would have ensured a reduced number of attendees for next year, thus reducing costs considerably.

Anyway, we’ve been speculating on the likely contents of the Christmas Hamper which they said that they were going to do “pour les anciens”. They said it would be local stuff, which raised alarm bells.

We’ve been speculating. ‘Chicken Giblets in Jelly’, and / or ‘Bull’s Testicles in Red Wine’?

The hamper was delivered this afternoon, brought personally by Mme le Maire. Contents: Jars of Rillettes de Canard, Caviar d’Aubergine, Tapenade Verte, Terrine au Foie de Canard. A block of Pain d’Epices. A litre of Pur jus de Pomme and a bottle of pretty decent local Cotes du Rhone.

They’ve really made an effort, which is really welcome.

[idun]

Bank holidays were always 'very different' in France. And the 26th was never ever a bank holiday, still there are so many anyway.

You only get them if they are a Mon to Fri working day if you work. ie next year the 25th December is a Saturday, so that 's it. Everything shut on the 25th, well  the obvious will be open on the mornings ie bakers, tabacs etc and then everything closed. And that is it, back on Monday.......... however, even then there can be the very very odd exception to that, usually, if it is some sort of a foreign ran company.

The only exeption I heard of was the 1st May when people who were not supposed to work sometimes got an extra days pay, AND that would depend on the contract they had with their employers. 

I haven't forgotten the 'ponts' which are something done with actual holidays or lieu days to join a bank holiday up with a weekend and that again is not always done either. 

[Weegie]

To me "Bank Holidays" are a UK concept (maybe USA too). Holidays in France are based on Saints days, other religious festivals and social movement such as Labour day, or commemorative events like VE day. I know the banks close too!

Different viewpoint as well so celebrated on the actual day rather than at the closest weekend.

[idun]

When I grew up apart from Boxing Day and August Bank holiday they were all religious holidays. No idea what is boxing day about, I have never known.

And one of my first jobs was in a Bank and we had to work on New Years Day for my first few years, it certainly was not a bank holiday.

[NormanH]

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7y9yrz

[Catalpa]

I'm never particularly visually Christmassy as dragging loads of greenery in from the garden and converting it into wreaths, garlands, etc, is time-consuming and only lasts for 3 or 4 days before looking dry and dusty. Then I make a mess dragging it all out again. And we're not religious so there are no birth of the saviour style considerations for us.

But...

...this year, for the first time for several years, I have Idun's mince pie pastry recipe again and it's as good as I remembered. So it's a good Christmas already by my standards. [:D]

Meilleurs voeux pour les fêtes, y'all. May your Christmas days be good (or at least adequate). With no seasonal power cuts.