My Parisian Christmas

Oh, a Seignious family Christmas. Following my first Thanksgiving without family, this was also my first Christmas away from home. What I missed most about being with my family was waiting at the top of stairs Christmas morning, begging Dad to let us run down the stairs as Mom put the final touches on the present piles awaiting us. This is a great picture of hope and joyful anticipation, and this is what Jesus gave us when he was born over 2000 years ago. There are many more family traditions that I love, and this holiday was especially difficult to be away from my family. However, I made an effort to realize that God wanted me in Paris for Christmas this year for some reason, and I tried to take advantage of it.

Christmas 2009

My host family here gave me a real French Christmas experience. Since they went to see family over Christmas weekend, we celebrated a few days early. Our festivities started around 9 on Thursday night when everyone was settled in for the night after work and after-school activities. The first round of our feast was hors d’oeuvres in the living room. They opened a wonderful bottle of champagne to celebrate as we enjoyed seasoned cheese bites, crab rolls, and chips. Because the kids just couldn’t wait any longer, we exchanged presents. I received some wonderful gifts from the family, including a painting by my sweet 13-year-old host sister! She painted the Tour Eiffel against a red background and made it into a Christmas tree with ornaments, stockings hanging from the lowest platform, and a nativity scene underneath. She then wrote in English “Merry Christmas in Paris” across the canvas. I promised her that I would hang it in my house from now on at Christmas. What a wonderful keepsake!

We then moved into the dining room for the rest of the dinner. The next round was incredible: foie gras (fattened liver) and caviar with bread. Very traditional! I loved the taste of the foie gras; it was just the consistency that threw me off a little at first. But I enjoyed it overall! And I really liked the caviar!

The third round of our meal was red wine, almost completely raw steak, asparagus, and salad. Funny story with the meat: Once my host mother saw how difficult it was for me to cut the meat (raw meat is very tough to cut when you aren’t used to it), she apologized as she remembered that I probably don’t eat my meat that way and that she could put it back in the oven for a couple minutes if I wanted. I laughed and said that yes, normally I eat my meat medium, however, I wanted the complete French experience and that I would keep eating it. It ended up taking me more than twice as long to finish that round as everyone else because it took me about 4 minutes to chew each bite! When I told them it was often a kind of man-test to see who would order the rawest meat in America, they laughed and said that they were not meaning to test my manliness! Haha! Good experience.

The fourth round was warm little chocolate cakes with pecan ice cream. And to finish it all off, tangerines all around! What a delightful dinner with a great family! I felt right at home.

For the rest of the weekend, I was so thankful have an invitation to spend Christmas with a great American friend of mine in Paris. She, her husband, and two young sons opened their house to me both Christmas Eve and Christmas day to partake in their traditions with them. Including a yummy Chinese dinner Saturday night and a delicious Christmas lunch Sunday afternoon, followed by a Trinity International Church service. What a blessing it is to have such a thoughtful, kind friend in Paris! Thanks to her family, I did not feel lonely this Christmas!

Christmas Eve, after the Chinese dinner, I went to 10:30 pm Catholic Christmas mass at St-Germain-des-Près. What a beautiful service!

St-Germain-des-Près

Overall, I had a great Christmas season in the most beautiful city on earth. And if I had gone home for Christmas, I would’ve missed out on a great trip to Strasbourg, Europa Park, Stuttgart, Munich, and Salzburg… Blog to come :)