1- Decorating the tree: A long-time favourite of mine. Whipping out all the ornaments and decorating takes time, patience and skill. We try to update the collection by adding a few pieces each year. Mom orders the tree well in advance – no fakies, only the real thing! Let there be needles everywhere, it’s only a quick sweep fix, and it smells amazing. Of course Christmas music is imperative. My favourites this year are Michael Bublé, She & Him (Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward) and Susie Arioli.
2- Scotch Cakes: THE best holiday cookies you will ever taste. They’re basically shortbreads with vanilla icing and confit cherries on top. We decorate cookies with cherries cut into little shapes like mistletoe or other Christmasy shapes. I once got really sick from eating an entire batch in one day. That’s a whole lot of butter. I couldn’t help myself.
3- Réveillon: We celebrate on the 24th at night. It’s called the “Reveillon” in French. We have the whole shebang and turkey until the wee hours of the morning and then reconvene in the morning for Christmas brunch, topped with mimosas. Then on Christmas night, we eat Christmas dinner, which is more formal. Christmas is so wonderful, why not stretch it out over two whole days?
4- Bûche de Noël: Another French Canadian tradition. Literally translated as Christmas Log. Basically it's a giant swiss roll cake, usually hazelnut flavored, rolled in the shape of a log and decorated with Christmasy/foresty type stuff… It tastes amazing and looks pretty good too!
5- Wrapping and Unwrapping of Gifts: When there was lots of younglings in the family, we used to gather round for what seemed like hours to unwrap the mountain of gifts under the tree. Now that we’re all older, there isn't nearly as many gifts, but we still take great pride in Christmas wrapping. There is a competition between a few of us as to who will come up with the best Christmas wrapping.
I'm curious, what are your Christmas traditions?
Enjoy the Holidays everyone! X
When I was young my family always used to open presents in the evening of Christmas Eve. In fact, for many years I was confused as to which was actually Christmas, the 24th or the 25th. Haha. Now that I live on my own, traditions are pretty flimsy. But I'm okay with that for now, and I get all ridiculously warm and fuzzy inside imagining creating new traditions with a family of my own one day. I honestly feel happy and warm just spending Christmas Eve alone on my couch... but that may be the glass of wine talking. Ha! :)
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas! We celebrate on the 24th and 25th. On the 24th we have our Christmas dinner and at midnight we exchange gifts. Then on the morning of the 25th we open the gifts that Santa or Baby Jesus brought us, and we just relax and eat, eat and eat ;)
ReplyDeleteOoh love learning about a few French Canadian traditions! All the food and decorating sound perfect to me. We don't really have many traditions except a big Christmas Eve party at my in-laws, then a few days in Napa with my family, lots of wine, food, and definitely driving around to look at Christmas lights. Mow that I have a wee one, Santa visits and crafts will be on the list. Oh yes lots of Christmas music! Michael Bubke for sure but I'll always love Nat King Cole and The Carpenters. ;0)
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