The size of the cat compared with a large leek.
My chocolate cake with Carmel Fleur de Sel Buttercream frosting
Can you believe how close Christmas is!? Well, we are just very excited that in 5 days we are boarding a transAtlantic flight to the ol' US of A for the holidays! I cannot believe how fast they are coming this year. It's cool to be in France and see this holiday season unfold from a different viewpoint in the world. I've only known Christmas from Sarasota, Florida. Where we had to crank down the AC in the house to 50 degrees so that we could become cold enough to want to light a fire in the fireplace. In fact, I never understood why houses in Florida are even built with fireplaces...one of life's mysteries, I guess.
So, from my vantage point here in Marseille, I can see they have put some Christmasy lights up around the Vieux Port, and they have installed fake Christmas trees that have been dumped with some bizarre white sticky material to look like snow. It melts and gets all gooey when the sun is very hot and bright. See, a Marseille Christmas is not so unlike a Florida Christmas. I found out this the hard way when the girls and I went to do a birthday photo shoot in front of these trees for Malou's b-day and we began making fake snowballs. Well, Laila actually touched that stuff, not me. But I did get it all stuck to the bottom of my shoes and people we staring at my feet for the rest of the afternoon. Laila should have probably washed her hands after making her snowball, because I'm pretty sure the snow was crafted from some horrible chemicals.
Marseille also has installed little wooden holiday cabins, or booths where people sell all kinds of pure junk. I was searching the cabins this weekend to find some 'Frenchy' Christmas gifts for people, but unfortunately all they had was some ugly carnival/county fair glass figurines and plastic wind chimes. So, sorry Family, you will not be getting any Frenchy gifts this year, but you will thank me for it. There was a parade around the Port too. It consisted of one truck with a band on it and a man on a mic. He was singing English Christmas carols, with a heavy accent, and was totally hitting on all the ladies from the float. It was a little pathetic but still a good effort to conjure up some holiday spirit. France is slowly being influenced by our American holidays. I already told you about the tiny but growing presence of Halloween celebrators.
But now, Christmas commercialism is catching on and they too now have a Santa at the mall for pictures with the kids. However, here Santa Claus is lovingly called Papa Noel. I for one, am a big fan of the title Papa Noel and I plan on using it when I'm back in the States. It just brings a smile to my face to know that somewhere in the South Pole, there is Papa Noel's 'betterhalf' , Madame Noel, who is busy stoking her woodstove and baking gingerbread cookies all year long.
So, now I leave you to tend to my cabbage soup that is bubbling away on the stove. I hope you are all catching the holiday spirit, wherever you may be in the world and whatever holiday you may celebrate. Now matter what name you call Santa Claus, I hope you enjoy the next few weeks leading up to Christmas...
