A Thouars Christmas

Sorry for the radio silence! Enjoying the Christmas season this past month took precedence over documenting it. Add in nasty head colds for the entire family, several weekend activities, a big visa appointment thrown in just for fun the week before Christmas, and then 10 days away from home, and...you get the picture.   :)   But tonight I've finally pulled down all the photos, and here I am with the first of a few recap posts.

First up: Christmas in our little town of Thouars.

I'll start by admitting that Christmas here was disappointing and felt kind of off in some ways. Holidays are so steeped in tradition and expectation that breaking tradition just feels...weird. We were surprised, for instance, not to sing any Christmas carols or be marking Advent in church through December. Likewise, Christmas music wasn't significantly part of the broader life "soundtrack" in shops, on the radio, and so forth—although if anything was played it was American, so nicely familiar (yay!). There weren't Christmas tree farms to visit for choosing and chopping down a little tree. Very few homes put up wreaths or lights or other decorations (aside from an oddly ubiquitous and somewhat cheesy stuffed Santa on a ladder that was hanging out of half a dozen windows in our vicinity!).

Yet Christmas was also much more magical for us here than at home. For one thing, we did get a real fir tree, a first for me in the whole of my 37 years! Yes, I was perhaps a little bit psyched, even after I realized that, alas, my Real Tree Moment would have to occur at a home improvement store garden center. (Random fact: Jesse and I bought the artificial tree we use at home in 1999 on a Bradlees going-out-of-business close-out sale.) It also was lovely to find that what individual homes lacked in decorating, the town more than made up for in municipal extravagance. Lights were hung over dozens of streets and I think an entire German forest was sacrificed for the amount of boughs and trees and branches that adorned the barriers, lamp posts, and building facades of the main streets. Shop owners likewise went all out in decking their storefronts, or wrapping their entire ceilings and walls in gold paper, or covering surfaces with Christmas decor. Delightful!

Another super experience was the Christmas market, something not really found at home. Christmas markets are big here in France, as it seems they are in most of Europe. We understand that markets in bigger cities are awesome and extensive affairs that can last for 30 or more days. Thouars had just a two-day market in mid-December, but we thoroughly enjoyed it despite the more limited scope—especially since it was set up just around the corner from our house! There was (non-Christmas??) live music, Santa, activities, pop-up shops, horses, bouncy houses, not to mention endless vats of vin chaud and crêpes for sale providing a very French aroma in the frosty air.

But I think what really made Christmas here special was the amount of time we were able to spend together as a family. The boys were completely enchanted with the lights and decorations in town; they would beg to go on walks after dark. We did our own Advent readings and discussions each evening, and we had chocolate calendars to open each afternoon after school. The boys also were fully into the Christmas gift-giving spirit, excitedly working on various secret projects that they'd wrap and put under the tree, which of course warmed my heart no end.

I could go on, but at this point I really should quit with the text and put in photos...

Hooray for a real "sapin"! The boys insisted that we go out and buy it on December 1st, so we dashed out directly after school during a 45-minute break from work for Jesse! 

It was a challenge to get even a little tree into the car with all four of us,

but the boys definitely didn't mind a squeeze. 

Josiah and William were THRILLED to decorate the tree when we got home! They had dug out a small box of decorations belonging to the landlord (found in the back of the attic crawl space) and went to town. I put on the lights first, but beyond that it was all up to them. Indeed, once the proper decorations ran out, they began snipping little lengths of yarn and so on to fill in empty spots. They were dedicated to their task for at least an hour, and I couldn't stop smiling the entire time. You'll be happy to know Jesse and I didn't touch or rearrange a thing.  :)

A taste of the lights and decorations on the streets.

Here's the Christmas market. All of these little shed structures were put up in the square to house the shops and food vendors, and Christmas trees—some huge, some small—were everywhere too. It was really lovely.

If there was any disappointment at the market, it was that the shopping itself was a bit hit or miss. But it was still fun to look around, even if some of the items for sale looked a little like school craft projects or Dollar Store sidewalk sale fare!  :)

 

 There was an indoor area of the market too, which had more food for sale as well as some craft activities that the boys enjoyed.

The activities continued well into the evening both nights. 

Now moving on...

This was from a shopping center in Poitiers, a city about an hour from home. Why Poitiers? We were informed we had required visa and medical appointments and chest x-rays there. Why the shopping center? We were desperately searching, last minute, for a self-serve kiosk to take more stern identity photos of ourselves (identity photos are no smiling matter in France, let me tell you). The boys scored a day off school, so they weren't complaining, but the day was a tad stressful for Jesse and me.

Fortunately there were smiles all around that evening, which was when we did our family gift opening. Think these two were excited?  :)

 

 

And with this happy mess in view, I'll sign off for tonight. Joyeux Noël!