It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
Judging by the crowds when I went out to get some final gifts today, the French are just as bad about last-minute Christmas shopping as we are back in America. The shops were all packed today.
Of course, some of that is by design. When you want your holiday treats to be as fresh as possible, you’re gonna have to get them at the very last minute. Today, for example, I picked up some fancy cheeses at the fromagerie (cheese shop) and Kristian got veggies at the local outdoor market. I also grabbed some cinnamon sticks at the local epicerie (spice shop), which truly is a sensory delight.
Tomorrow, one of us will run out to a boucherie (butcher shop) for charcuterie and a pâtisserie for a bûche de noël.
Yule logs come from a pagan tradition, meant to bring a good harvest in the new year. A large log would be burned over the course of several days. Eventually, as with so many pagan traditions, the burning of a log became part of Christmas celebrations. As houses and households shrunk, people didn’t have the hearth sizes for burning a large log… but do you know what’s even easier (and tastier)? A cake in log shape, aka a bûche de noël.
(True Confession: I learned all of this from Instagram reels and Wikipedia).
All of the pâtisseries have bûche de noël in their windows this week. They’re all log-shaped, but they come in many different styles. Lilian is partial to the ones that look like Santa’s belt. I think I prefer the more traditional look. In any case, we’re all excited for cake. The insides are a swiss roll, which is when you take a thin sheet of sponge cake, spread frosting on it, and then roll the whole thing up. We asked some French friends for recommendations for the best place to get one, and they all said the Boulangerie D’Ainay. Hopefully, it will live up to the hype!
I’d hoped to get out and do/see some things with Lilian yesterday and today. I’m off of work and she’s off of school. Unfortunately, she has a little bit of a cold, so she’s been taking it easy. We worked on a craft project together (hopefully I can post about it after she’s taken some photos of it), but mostly she’s been reading on her kindle.
We have a family trip planned to Munich to see some friends for New Years, so everyone please cross your fingers and toes that I don’t catch Lilian’s cold just in time to be miserable during our travel.
Pharmacies in France work pretty differently than they do in the US. You can still buy face creams and toothpaste by picking it up off of a shelf, but most of what we would consider to be “over the counter” (OTC) involves a conversation with the pharmacist. You tell them what’s going on and what you’d like, and they get it for you. I told him Lilian’s symptoms (sore throat, stuffy nose, a little bit of a cough) and he asked me a couple of questions (how old is she, does she have a fever, etc). Then, he gave me a cough syrup, some chewable pain meds, and a nasal spray. It’s not a bad system… it takes a little more time, but you get a professional recommendation. And you don’t have to stand in front of a wall of competing products and go “which one of these is going to make my kid feel better?”
You can’t get Nyquil, though. Which is why, if you’re visiting friends in Europe, a decent hostess gift is a nice bottle of liquid Nyquil. ?
They also think it’s insane that you can purchase giant bottles with 100 pills of ibuprofen/tylenol/aspirin/etc in the US. Medication here almost always comes in a blister pack, and in much smaller quantities (think more along the lines of 20-30). I find it fascinating that there are arguments on both sides as to why their way is safer. Blister packs are more shelf stable and make it harder to take a bunch of pills in short succession. Pill bottles come with childproof caps. I tend to find blister packs more convenient (their shape makes them easier to throw in a toiletries kit).
I must admit, however, that I brought a big ass™? bottle of ibuprofen liqui-gels here with me.
( When I get a headache, I just want to take 2 ibuprofen and tell everyone else to eff off).
How did we stumble onto the subject of festive OTC meds, anyways?
I’ll be sad when the Christmas market across the street from us closes tomorrow. I liked having hot mulled wine on demand. I’m always a little bummed when the Christmas lights come down and there are 2-3 more month of winter. Luckily for me, raclette season goes all the way until Spring.
Kristian has been cooking up a storm for our annual Christmas Eve Smörgåsbord. This is one area where our little kitchen and tiny dishwasher have not made life easier. For the most part, I like not having a million pots and pans and kitchen gadgets. You cook and clean a little bit every day, and it stays manageable. But, with a big meal/holiday like this, it’s definitely been a struggle to keep the counters clear. Our dishwasher is only a couple feet wide, and it takes a few hours to run.
We’ll have our big meal for Christmas Eve, Scandinavian-style. Kristian’s family used to open presents at midnight, Christmas Eve. By the time I came along, the time had moved up to something more along the lines of 8pm. As a nod to my side of the family, however, we’ll do our presents (and stockings) on Christmas Day.
I took a page from my sister Allison’s book this year: Lilian is getting: something she wants, something she needs, something for fun, and something to read. I really like this framework! It kept my ADHD lizard brain from impulse-buying extras “just because.”
If you celebrate, what are some of your Christmas traditions?
