(no subject)
I can't believe it's already the 23rd. Christmas Eve Eve. It doesn't feel like it at all.
I guess Christmas creeps up on me every year, but never quite like this.
In the States, your whole life, for all of December, is Christmas. Carols on the radio, lights on the houses, parties or dinners every weekend. But in France, Christmas is the 24th and 25th. They decorate their houses, but not on the same level. My host family doesn't even buy their tree until Christmas Eve day (althought that's partly because they're being cheap). The one thing the french really get into is their Nativity scene.
We went outside to collect all that moss and those bushes and trees. Baby Jesus will come on the 25th, followed by the shepards, then sometime in January the Wise Men.
I really like that tradition, it seems more authentic than some American traditions. I guess that's the same with a lot of French Christmas traditions. They're older, and simpler. They eat the "Treize Desserts" on Christmas Eve: dates, figs, nuts, grapes, mandarines, etc. For some reason, that seems like more of a real family/cultural tradition than my Aunt's cookies.
I am missing the american holiday season. I really get into all the Christmas-y things, usually. But I guess they aren't the same, anymore. The commercial part of Christmas, which, really, includes 2/3 of our ways of celebrating, is something the french don't embrace, and barely even have.
I really don't mean to make this a cheesy, "the real spirit of Christmas" post. But I suppose that's along the lines of what I feel about my french holiday season.
I guess Christmas creeps up on me every year, but never quite like this.
In the States, your whole life, for all of December, is Christmas. Carols on the radio, lights on the houses, parties or dinners every weekend. But in France, Christmas is the 24th and 25th. They decorate their houses, but not on the same level. My host family doesn't even buy their tree until Christmas Eve day (althought that's partly because they're being cheap). The one thing the french really get into is their Nativity scene.
We went outside to collect all that moss and those bushes and trees. Baby Jesus will come on the 25th, followed by the shepards, then sometime in January the Wise Men.
I really like that tradition, it seems more authentic than some American traditions. I guess that's the same with a lot of French Christmas traditions. They're older, and simpler. They eat the "Treize Desserts" on Christmas Eve: dates, figs, nuts, grapes, mandarines, etc. For some reason, that seems like more of a real family/cultural tradition than my Aunt's cookies.
I am missing the american holiday season. I really get into all the Christmas-y things, usually. But I guess they aren't the same, anymore. The commercial part of Christmas, which, really, includes 2/3 of our ways of celebrating, is something the french don't embrace, and barely even have.
I really don't mean to make this a cheesy, "the real spirit of Christmas" post. But I suppose that's along the lines of what I feel about my french holiday season.