Christmas in France ( tout en anglais)

Let's have a look now at the other times i had for this Christmas french vacation

Christmas has been the same for me and my family every year since i was born.
(except one year when we went to Saint Malo)
Christams Eve takes place in my parents's house, with them, my sister and I.
We eat the traditional Christmas food things, such as smoked salmon, foie gras, shrimps, oysters, tarama, petit-fours, scallop, duck, potatoes, carots, chestnut, a lot of different chocolates, and the typical christmas desert, La Buche glacée ( an ice-cream/cake, usually in chocolate, in the shape of a log ).
We are not the biggest eaters in the world so I think we don't eat as much as other families.
My Dad is not lucky wih 3 girls who get full quickly.
Sometimes we play board games.
What i like about this simple Christmas Eve is that we don't have to stay at the table for hours if we don't want to, we don't have to dress up, we don't have to eat a food we don't like to please the host, we don't have to listen to people we harldy know/like talking about boring topics, we listen to the music we want, we do what we want, relaxed, home.

When I was a child we opened the gifts in the morning, because Santa Clause comes during the night, we opened the ones at our names while eating breakfast ( essentially composed of christmas chocolates ) and then we went by my Grand Parents for the Christmas lunch, bringing the presents Santa left by us ( by mistake? ) to the other family members
But years passing, the gifts started to be displayed at the Christmas tree feet before the dinner. Which looks beautiful for the whole night time. And I don't know why as we were getting older we couldn't wait anymore for the morning to open them. We started to open one each, and the rest in the morning.
Now we open everything after the dinner.

But this year was a different ritual.
We went by my Aunt for Christmas Eve.
10 people, food, food and food, extreeeeemelyyyyy good fooood, but a lot.

The tradition is that the youngest person pics a gift for each family member and gives them out. So everyone has a present and opens it at the same time. When they are all opened, commented on, laughed at... the second round starts. Yes my sister is 18 but she is the youngest so she keeps the job, which she doesn't really love.

The Christmas lunch was by my my Grand-Parents house as usual, but we went to see Grand-Pere at the Hospital, as I said earlier, in the afternoon. I don't have pictures, we were pretty sad.

We actually postponed the Christmas Eve by my parents to the 27th.
We mixed it with another tradition: La Galette des Rois.
This is a cake that we eat sometimes in the begining of january, Twelth Night somehting, and it has something to do with the 3 Kings who came when Jesus was born. Yes I'm really bad at history and traditions. What I can say without mistaking for sure is that this cake is deeeliiicious, made with almonds ( frangipane ), and that inside there is a charm. If you get it in your piece, you are the King (or Queen), you get a crown and choose a Queen ( or King).
Who got it this year ?????? Meeeeee !! It's fair because last year I didn't get any Galette because I was in Barbados and I was craving for it.

Once again the tradition asks the youngest person to work. The child goes under the table and say who he/she wants to get the cut piece of cake
by shouting names when she/he hears : "Pour qui??" ("For who?").
This year, for the first time of her life, my sister wasn't the youngest,
because my cousin was there, she is 4.

      

So we had the Galette almost as an apetizer. This is definitely not the way french people usually do.
I'm certainly not a good example of the national french custom.

Then we started the dinner preparation. With some toasts spread with Aubergine Caviar and Taramasalata.

Then the inescapable Oysters. And the international guest has to have some !

Yes this is the face I have just looking at Oysters (and smelling), don't ask me to eat one,
Marielle is more adventurous than me.

We had several gifts breaks during the dinner. I just realise I have no pictures of the gifts opening time.... I was enjoying the Christmas magic mood I forgot to use my camera to immortalize it.
Then we had the Buche I was telling you about earlier.

Voila !!

This Christmas made me soooo happyyyy, my home, my family ( and my love), all together, my tree, the gifts, my parents, the love, the ( customized ) tradition.... I felt veryyy goood, I felt home.
Now I want to go back and live in France.