Christmas in France

Joyeux Noel!

So Christmas has come and gone for another year, and the 365 day wait until next years festive season has begun! Usually, for me, Christmas consists of a party/gathering with my family and friends home on Christmas eve where we watch Carols by Candle light and get into the festive mood! On Christmas morning my little sister, Milly, and I naturally wake up at the crack of dawn to run downstairs and see what Santa has given us this year. After opening presents in the dining room with my Mum, Dad and Milly, my mum puts some croissants in the oven and we have croissants and jam for breakfast outside. Milly and I then go upstairs to our rooms and get ready for Christmas lunch with Friends and Family at our house, whilst my mum starts to prepare Christmas lunch, and my dad... Who knows what he does!? After a couple of hours, Milly and I are ready for lunch and usually help mum with a few last minute details before her mad rush up the stairs to get dressed for the day! At 1 o'clock everyone arrives and we spend the day sharing gifts, eating LOTS of food and having fun. Overall, it is my favourite day of the year.

But this year, as I am on exchange, I spent christmas in France with my host family and got to experience a different way of celebrating the festive season. The french celebrate christmas quite similar to how we do in Australia, but there are some key differences in their festivities that I did not know before I came. The first is that rather than having a big family lunch on Christmas day, the french have a big dinner on Christmas eve, usually consisting of the whole family. But, as my host family's extended family were in Sweden (Bizarre!) it was only them and me this year. As well as the celebration on Christmas eve, they also have a slightly smaller, but still huge lunch on Christmas day, but it isn't as common. It is also a tradition in France to stay up very late on Christmas eve, and wake up very late on Christmas day. This was extremely bizarre for me as I am used to trying to sleep as early as possible and waking up as early as I am allowed to by my parents to open presents! But I think the cutest and better tradition that the french have is this, on Christmas eve they leave one of their shoes at the bottom of the christmas tree so Papa Noel (That's Santa if you cant work out the obvious) knows where to put your presents, aww. Also, if French children could get any cuter, the babies are dressed up in little outfits to celebrate christmas!

Overall though, Christmas was actually pretty average for me! I feel like maybe it is because my family and I celebrate on such a big scale that I was slightly disappointed  or that it was just a day where I was bound to feel a little poorly and missing my family. Oh well, life goes on and christmas is over. Can't believe I only have 31 days left in France!

Until next time blossoms,

Kit. Xx